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Frank Harris

Age: 35

Sex: male

Date: 27 Aug 1990

Place: Caribbean Festival, Harehills Avenue, Chapeltown, Leeds

Frank Augustus Harris was stabbed to death at the Leeds Carnival on 27 August 1990.

A DJ from Birmingham was tied for his murder but acquitted. It was said that he had been part of a group of men that had slashed and stabbed at Frank Harris after he had used the sound system without authority.

It was said that the DJ, a 28-year-old man who had lived in Frances Road in Ladywood, had stabbed Frank Harris after he had sung obscene comments over a sound system at a street party in Harehills Avenue which took place shortly after the official Leeds Carnival came to an end at 7.30pm about a mile away.

The DJ had been invited to the carnival to rap and DJ on the 'Live Wire Sound System' at the street party after the main carnival came to an end.

Frank Harris was stabbed once in the neck. The wound had penetrated four inches into his chest and severed a main artery.

Another man was also attacked and was taken to hospital with stab wounds to his arm but recovered.

Initial reports stated that Frank Harris had been hacked to death with a machete.

The man that was tried for Frank Harris's murder was arrested by West Yorkshire police in New York. He had flown out of the country on the day after the murder, landing at John F Kennedy airport, but he was held by immigration officials until the police from West Yorkshire came out to arrest him.

It was said that the DJ had been incensed after Frank Harris had used the obscenities in front of women and children.

At the trial it was said that Frank Harris had been surround by a group of men that had stabbed and slashed at him with weapons, and that the injury that killed him, the wound to his throat and chest, had been caused by a knife that the DJ had been wielding.

However, the DJ was acquitted at the trial at the Leeds Crown Court in November 1991.

Frank Harris was from Edgbaston. He was known as Maptalli.

It was noted that Sedley Sullivan and Rachel Soloman were also killed during the carnival. They were shot at about 1.30am in Harehills Avenue and their murders are also unsolved. It was said that Sedley Sullivan was shot as the result of a row, possibly drugs related, and that Rachel Soloman was caught in the crossfire. They were murdered about 50 yards away from where Frank Harris was stabbed.


*map pointers are rough estimates based on known location details as per Place field above.

see totalcrime.co.uk

see Leeds Metropolitan Universit, A Short History Of The Leeds West Indian Carnival

see Sandwell Evening Mail - Wednesday 27 February 1991

see Aberdeen Press and Journal - Thursday 30 August 1990

see Sandwell Evening Mail - Tuesday 26 November 1991

see Sandwell Evening Mail - Thursday 14 November 1991

see Newcastle Journal - Wednesday 29 August 1990

see Aberdeen Press and Journal - Wednesday 29 August 1990

see Aberdeen Press and Journal - Thursday 30 August 1990

see Sandwell Evening Mail - Wednesday 29 August 1990

see Sandwell Evening Mail - Thursday 30 August 1990

see Sandwell Evening Mail - Friday 31 August 1990

see Aberdeen Evening Express - Wednesday 29 August 1990