Yousef Makki: Teenager cleared of murder after fatal stabbing of 17-year-old in Cheshire

A teenager has been cleared of murdering his friend with a flick knife in a Cheshire village.

Yousef Makki, 17, died after being stabbed in the heart during a row in Hale Barns in March.

At Manchester Crown Court, a jury declared a 17-year-old (boy A) not guilty of his murder, and not guilty of an alternative charge of manslaughter.

A second boy, known as Boy B, was found not guilty of perverting the course of justice and not guilty of conspiracy to rob.

Both were also cleared of conspiracy to commit robbery in the lead up to Yousef’s death.

Boy A previously admitted lying to the police at the scene, and pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.

Neither defendants can be named because they are under 18.

Yousef, from an Anglo-Lebanese family in Burnage, had won a scholarship to the prestigious Manchester Grammar School and wanted to be a heart surgeon.

During a four-week trial in court, the jury heard the defendants led “double lives”, from their families and background, with Alastair Webster, Boy A’s barrister, calling them “middle class gangsters”.

The court heard the stabbing was an “accident waiting to happen” as all three indulged in “idiotic fantasies”, and posted videos on social media making threats and posing with knives.

Boy A had pleaded not guilty, claiming he acted in self-defence.

After the verdict was delivered, Boy A puffed out his cheeks and closed his eyes before he was hugged by his tearful family.

But in the public gallery, Yousef’s father shouted in fury and the judge had to clear the courtroom.

(c) Sky News 2019: Yousef Makki: Teenager cleared of murder after fatal stabbing of 17-year-old in Cheshire