School bleed kits are murdered son's legacy - mum

3 hours ago

Caroline Willgoose, mum of Harvey Willgoose, says bleed kits will make schools safer

BBC A woman wearing black-rimmed glasses holds a red package marked "bleed control" kit and which also bears a picture of Harvey Willgoose — Caroline Willgoose, mum of Harvey Willgoose, says bleed kits will make schools safer

The mother of a teenager who was fatally stabbed while at school in Sheffield has said bleed kits being handed out to schools across the city are part of her son's "legacy".

Harvey Willgoose, 15, was stabbed through the heart with a hunting knife at Sheffield's All Saints Catholic High School in February.

Joining a team delivering 15 of the kits containing potentially lifesaving first aid equipment to schools in the city as part of the Binning Knives Saves Lives campaign, Caroline Willgoose said she hoped all schools would eventually have them "for the safety of the children".

Mrs Willgoose said the campaign was "making things safer for children and making schools safer".

Mohammed Umar Khan, also 15, was detained for life with a minimum term of 16 years in October for Harvey's murder.

Harvey Willgoose was stabbed in the heart with a hunting knife in a Sheffield school in February

Family Handout Harvey Willgoose — Harvey Willgoose was stabbed in the heart with a hunting knife in a Sheffield school in February

Mrs Willgoose said the Binning Knives Saves Lives campaign wanted to provide bleed kits, containing items such as a tourniquet, gauze and a chest seal and costing about £100 each, to 30 Sheffield schools by the end of January, and about 15 more schools every month.

Binning Knives Saves Lives also has a mobile knife amnesty bin taken to various locations, educating parents and young people on the dangers of knife crime and providing support to youths and gang members.

Mrs Willgoose said supporting the Binning Knives Saves Lives campaign "means a lot" to the family.

"When we first had a knife arch going into a school, it was an emotional thing because it's all for Harvey's legacy," she said.

"He's making things safer for children and making schools safer."

The bleed kits being handed out to schools in Sheffield contain items such as gauze and a tourniquet

Red pack containing medical kit — The bleed kits being handed out to schools in Sheffield contain items such as gauze and a tourniquet

One of the first schools in Sheffield to be given a bleed kit on Monday was Hinde House School in Shiregreen.

Daniel Cross, the school's principal, said: "If someone offers us a tool by which we can enhance our safeguarding, our immediate response is yes."

He added that the bleed kits could cover a variety of injuries from fights to falls.

"There is risk in everything we do. While this campaign is about knives, for me this is actually about enhancing our first aid offer in general, and we're really proud to do that."

Binning Knives Saves Lives organisers Courtney Barrett and Kyle Hotchkins have said the aim of the campaign was to "save children from dying needlessly like Harvey did".

Ms Barrett and Mr Hotchkins first met Mrs Willgoose at an anti-knife crime event in London.

Mr Hotchkins, attending the event at Hinde House School, said the campaign had already raised funds for 212 bleed kits in schools across the country, and he said that 11 of those had already "saved lives".

Mrs Willgoose said while she did not know if a bleed kit could have helped save Harvey's life, "if there had been one, we'd have had that answered wouldn't we?"

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