A knife-obsessed teenager who stabbed another boy to death was unmasked yesterday after a judge locked him up for at least 16 years.
And in a revelation that will surprise absolutely no-one....
Mohammed Umar Khan, 15, was named as the killer of Harvey Willgoose, also 15.
'Wow, what a shocker!' said no-one who reads the news...
Mrs Justice Ellenbogen yesterday lifted a reporting restriction which had prevented the defendant being named. She accepted arguments from the Press that lifting the restrictions would act as a deterrent to potential offenders while increasing public understanding of the scourge of knife crime.
We understand it all too well, Judge, we understand that blustering about strict penalties for knife crime from the Home Sec is always hot air, because in court, when the rubber meets the road, you and your colleagues go softly-softly.
It can also now be disclosed that Khan, referred to as Umar throughout the trial, was born and raised in Sheffield – hailing from a Pakistani family.
He was in the same year as Harvey, but had only met him the previous September, when he joined All Saints after leaving his previous school because of bullying.
They always have a poor record, these killer kids. Always. And even when the school authorities want to take action, they are often thwarted by others.
He described a difficult home life during his evidence, claiming his mother had mental issues and his father – who was often in Pakistan and absent from the family home – would beat him for minor indiscretions.
Pity he didn't go too far one day, like so many others in these disfunctional families. It would have afforded Harvey the protection so lacking from the State's minions.
Social services visited the family in December last year after concerns were reported to them that Khan and his siblings were not being fed properly. The referral stated that the children looked skinny and malnourished, did not own pyjamas and had no sheets on their beds. But, after a visit to the family home, social services concluded no further action was required.
They probably concluded that before they ever rang the doorbell...
In December last year, his mother found an axe in his gym bag and told the school, which called the police. He was then visited by a police officer who warned him about the dangers of carrying weapons. He insisted that the axe was not his.
That's what police do these days - warn. Never act.
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