Friars Wharf murder: Harun Jama was unlawfully killed, coroner rules

Harun Jama was found stabbed in January 2018 and died later in hospital

A boy who was stabbed to death after an altercation on a towpath was unlawfully killed, a coroner has ruled.

Harun Jama, 16, from Sparkhill, Birmingham, was found bleeding heavily in Friars Wharf, Oxford, in January 2018. He died later in hospital.

He may have fired a gun before he was killed but no weapon has ever been found, Oxford Coroner's Court heard.

A man arrested on suspicion of Harun's murder was released without charge in November 2019.

The court heard Harun had started to travel to Oxford to deal drugs in 2017. He was caught with Class A drugs by police in the city in December 2017 and arrested.

To repay the debt to his dealer for losing the drugs, he was sent back to the city three or four times a week.

Eyewitnesses reported hearing a bang or a pop in Friars Wharf at about 19:45 GMT on 3 January 2018, then seeing Harun running away from a man riding a bike.

A low presence of gunshot residue was found on his right hand. Forensic experts said it meant he had either fired a gun or been close to one when it was fired.

Harun's body was found on the towpath area of Friars Wharf next to the River Thames

The man on the bike was seen attacking the boy but eyewitnesses believed he was being punched.

A group of runners found Harun bleeding heavily underneath the bridge in Friars Wharf and called emergency services at about 19:50.

He was pronounced dead at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford at about 21:00.

Harun received deep stab wounds to the abdomen, leg and chest. Each of them would have been fatal, a post-mortem examination found.

Police said they had no new lines of investigation after the murder suspect was released without charge in November 2019.

But Det Sgt Mike West, of Thames Valley Police, said officers would still pursue any new evidence.

"It is not a filed case by any means," he told the inquest.

Darren Salter, senior coroner for Oxfordshire, concluded that Harun was unlawfully killed.