Murdered boy's family 'happy to have got justice'

Two boys who stabbed Prince Walker-Ayeni were found guilty of murder

The uncle of a teenage boy who was stabbed to death has described the trial of his murderers as a "tough three weeks", but said "finally, justice has been served".

Prince Walker-Ayeni was killed by two 16-year-old boys in Moss Side in Manchester on 4 April days before his 18th birthday.

Kemoy Walker, a prominent anti-knife crime campaigner in the city, said he wanted to see a strategy to tackle the issue "organised by local people" following his nephew's death.

The two boys, who cannot be named due to their age, were found guilty of murder by a jury at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Wednesday.

Kemoy Walker said the family were happy his nephew's killers had been brought to justice

The two teenagers had denied murdering Prince in the attack on Raby Street.

The jury found them guilty and they will be sentenced on 19 December.

Saima Habib, 44, was also convicted of perverting the course of justice, and will be sentenced on the same date.

'Big crisis'

Kemoy Walker said: "My family feels happy that justice is served, although it won’t bring Prince back, we are happy to hear a good outcome."

He said the case was a "good example of when the system works well".

Mr Walker, a youth worker, has long campaigned in Moss Side to help support and engage young people and steer them away from knife crime.

He said he understood that many others affected by knives did not get "justice in their families, so my heart goes out to them".

"Speaking to other youth workers, there needs to be the development of an anti-knife crime strategy that is local to Manchester and is organised by local people," he added.

Mr Walker said there needed to be a "big conversation" about the "big crisis" of knife crime among young people

"We need to get to grips with it, it’s too much blaming the system and everyone else."

His comments come after more than 90 weapons including knives and a machete were seized by Greater Manchester Police from schools in the region in the last academic year.