Yousef Makki

Yousef Makki was stabbed in the chest by his friend in Hale Barns on 2 March 2019.

His friend was tried for his murder and manslaughter but acquitted after he said that he had acted in self-defence.

However, Yousef Makki's inquest concluded that he died from complications of a stab wound to his chest but that the precise circumstances in which he was wounded could not, on the balance of probabilities, be ascertained.

However, the findings of the first inquest were later quashed and a second inquest was held in October 2023 at which it was ruled that his death was unlawful.

Yousef Makki's friend and another youth and Yousef Makki had all atteneded Manchester Grammar School, an expensive private school, but had led double lives, playing at being middle-class gangsters, even though they had come from wealthy families and lived in a low crime area. They had listened to drill music, smoked cannabis and carried knives.

Shortly before the other friend had bought two flick-knives from an online store and on the day Yousef Makki was stabbed he had brought them along to impress the others.

It was not known what brought the fight about, but it was thought to have either been a drug deal gone wrong or a revenge attack. However, Yousef Makki's friend was beaten up and his £2,000 bike was thrown in a hedge and lost, whilst at the same time the other friend ran off and Yousef Makki stood buy,

It was said that after that that Yousef Makki's friend and Yousef Makki came to blows and flick knives that they both had were produced and the friend stabbed Yousef Makki in the heart.

At the trial the friend said that Yousef Makki had pushed and punched him and called him a 'pussy' and had pulled out his flick knife on him first.

It was also heard that the friend had lied about what had happened at the trial, stating that he didn't know what had happened and that he had seen a silver hatchback flee the scene. He said that Yousef Makki had been walking ahead of him and the other friend and that when they had turned the corner that they had seen Yousef Makki fall to the floor and then saw him coughing up blood.

It was later revealed that there had been a string of failures during the police investigation, including the fact that although the friend was arrested on the night of the stabbing that the police had not searched his home for another two days.

It was also heard that Yousef Makki's friend had been stopped by the police two weeks before the stabbing in Wilmslow with a balaclava and linked to a knife but that the police had not taken any action and that on the same night, seven other youths that had been with him had also been stopped following a number of muggings in the area, although there was no suggestion that Yousef Makki's friend had been involved in the muggings.

However, it was noted that if the police had acted differently on that occasion that Yousef Makki's stabbing might have been avoided.