CPS issues statement after coroner rules Yousef Makki was unlawfully killed

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the agency 'respects' the conclusion reached by a coroner that Yousef Makki was unlawfully killed.

Yousef, a bright Manchester Grammar School student from Burnage, was fatally stabbed in the heart by his schoolfriend Joshua Molnar on March 2, 2019, on Gorse Bank Road in Hale Barns. After a criminal trial at Manchester Crown Court in July 2019, Molnar, now 22, was cleared of murder and manslaughter.

He told the jury he acted in self-defence after Yousef pulled a blade on him first and 'came on' to his knife during a row. A previous inquest held in 2021 was quashed by the courts following a legal challenge by Yousef's family.

READ MORE: Coroner rules Yousef Makki was unlawfully killed - what does this mean and what could happen next?

READ MORE: Yousef Makki's schoolfriend was 'angry' and 'wanted to go home' - then he pulled out a knife

But following the second inquest last week, which Yousef's family battled to secure, coroner Geraint Williams yesterday (October 25) gave the conclusion that the teenager was unlawfully killed by Molnar, whose actions he said amount to manslaughter. Yousef's sister Jade Akoum said her family could now try to 'move on with our lives'.

Following the conclusion, a spokesperson for the CPS said the coroner's conclusion was 'respected', as was the verdict of the jury in the criminal case. In a statement, the spokesperson said: "Our thoughts are with the family of Yousef Makki who suffered such a devastating loss.

"We respect the conclusion reached by the coroner who applies a very different test to the one used by the criminal courts. We put the case before a jury, held a full trial in 2019 and the defendant was found not guilty. We respect the