Yousef Makki: Teen deleted phone records after stabbing - inquest

Manchester Grammar School pupil Yousef Makki was fatally stabbed in March 2019

A teenager arrested after a 17-year-old grammar school boy was fatally stabbed deleted 47 items from his phone before it was seized by police, an inquest has heard.

Joshua Molnar stabbed Yousef Makki with a knife during a row in Hale Barns, Greater Manchester, in March 2019.

A second inquest is being held after the original inquest findings in November 2021 were quashed.

The initial hearing ruled out both unlawful killing and accidental death.

It was jettisoned after his family were granted a judicial review.

The fresh inquest at Manchester South Coroner's Court in Stockport heard Adam Chowdhary was best friends with Yousef, from Burnage in Manchester, who had won a scholarship to £12,000 a year Manchester Grammar School, where the pair met.

Yousef was stabbed in the heart by their mutual friend Molnar on 2 March 2019.

Ex-public schoolboy Molnar, from a wealthy Cheshire family, claimed self-defence and was cleared of manslaughter and murder by a jury but jailed for perverting the course of justice by lying to police at the scene and carrying a knife in public.

Adam Chowdhary, 17, at the time, was with both of them at the time of the stabbing and had bought the knife used in the incident.

He told police he did not see what happened.

He deleted items from his phone before it was seized by police and gave a "disingenuous at best, dishonest at worst" account to officers at the scene, the inquest heard.

Coroner Alison Mutch had ruled out both unlawful killing and accidental death as reasons for Yousef's death, saying she could not establish the precise sequence of events.

But Yousef's family brought a judicial review challenging the coroner's finding that there was an insufficiency of evidence on the "central issue", of whether the killing was unlawful.

Molnar told his criminal trial that knives were produced after they argued and there was a "coming together".

Body-worn footage from police officers was played to the hearing on the first day of the new inquest, showing the aftermath of the incident.

In it Molnar tells police he does not know how Yousef was stabbed and suggests a silver hatchback was in the area and drove off at speed.

Mr Chowdhary is seen in the footage suggesting to officers he was pre-occupied with his phone and the first he became aware something was wrong was when Yousef, bleeding from his wound, said to him, "look what happened", and lifted his shirt.

Mr Chowdhary also mentions to the officer a grey Polo or Corsa car near the scene and the attackers have "got off".

Coroner Geraint Williams suggested: "Mr Chowdhary is being disingenuous at best, dishonest at worst."

John Mulvihill, a retired detective inspector, said before Chowdhary had his phone seized 47 items, call records or messages, were deleted from it, and agreed it was a "concerted effort".

Peter Weatherby KC, representing the Makki family, asked the witness: "There's far from innocent reasons why anyone might delete call histories in these circumstances?"

Yousef Makki's family were granted a judicial review

Tom Coke-Smyth, representing Mr Chowdhary interjected saying: "That's comment."

Mr Weatherby did not repeat the question and moved on, asking the former detective why he changed the two youths' status from witnesses to suspects.

Mr Mulvihill said: "Straight road, well lit. It was difficult to understand why or how they had not seen anything given the close proximity to Yousef."

Mr Chowdhary was previously found not guilty of perverting the course of justice and given a four-month detention order after admitting possession of a flick knife.

The inquest continues.