Khayri Mclean Murder Trial Update, closing statements - 21st March

A teenager's eyes "never left" Khayri Mclean before he stabbed him in the leg, a court has heard.The prosecution and defence in the case where a 17-year-old boy is standing trial at Leeds Crown Court accused of the murder of the Huddersfield schoolboy have made their closing speeches to a jury. A 15-year-old boy has previously pleaded guilty to the murder and both admit possession of a blade or knife. Neither can be named for legal reasons.Khayri was 15 when he was stabbed and killed on September 21 outside North Huddersfield Trust School. The prosecution in the case say the two teenage boys "lay in wait" in a ginnel of Woodhouse Hill wearing all black and armed with knives. It is said the 15-year-old was the one responsible for the fatal knife wound to the chest. Jonathan Sandiford, prosecuting, said the 17-year-old stabbed Khayri in the leg and went with his co-accused in a "joint enterprise."Read more: Khayri Mclean murder trial week 2 live updates as prosecution set to close its caseHe said: "On any view this is, you may think, a planned attack. The stabbing of Khayri Mclean did not take place on a spur of the moment. This was a carefully planned attack....So both arrive at the meeting place with their face coverings, balaclavas and their knives. Despite the fact it is a short walk up the road to the outside of the school or the ginnel. They meet at the junction and take that footpath, into the back fields."Why would they do that?...Had they walked up Woodhouse Hill then it would be difficult to get changed without anyone noticing, or putting on face coverings and balaclavas."Mr Sandiford said the suggestion from the defence must be that the 15-year-old alone had "some kind of plan in his mind to attack Khayri Mclean and this defendant went along with him without any idea what was going to happen because he hadn't told him."

He added: "If this defendant went along as an innocent, what a coincidence it was that he also had a knife, also had a change of clothing and also had a balaclava. It would seem on that basis both young men had come up quite independently what they needed to take along....By two of them going together, their attack was far more likely to succeed - far better to have a second person to back you up. There they are in the ginnel, Khayri coming up the road. They weren't to know which would get to Khayri first. It was the 15-year-old's blade that sank into Khayri's chest but that was either luck or misfortune depending on the way you look at it."They had no way of knowing who would get to him first or if Khayri was able to make a run for it. You have a greater chance of getting to someone if there is someone else with you."The court heard about evidence the teenager had given on Monday where he said he "panicked" after running out of the ginnel. Mr Sandiford said: "If he was in a state of panic, all he had to do was keep on running. He would get to where he started off that afternoon, but of course he doesn't do that - he twists in the air, even in the air keeping his eyes on Khayri Mclean and goes to where he was on the ground. He in evidence seemed to suggest Khayri was some sort of threat to him...

"If this defendant really had wanted to run away somewhere he was safe, quite an odd turn of phrase you may think considering the only two people running around were him and the 15-year-old, all he had to do was run. But no, he goes towards him and stabs him and his knife goes through his leg...That was this defendant pressing home the attack he had gone to the location to commit with the 15-year-old, and that was to stab Khayri Mclean."Mr Sandiford said it is the prosecution's case the teenagers went together. He said: "They planned it, went together, lay in wait and attacked Khayri Mclean. This defendant was there as part of it to make sure that plan was successful."Defence barrister Mohammed Nawaz dismissed the prosecution's claims and invited the jury to return verdicts for both the charge of murder and the lesser charge of manslaughter.He said: "Ask yourselves if he appeared to be wicked or unhinged or had a disposition to set out on a murderous enterprise that day."

The barrister asks the jurors to look at the teenager's character before the stabbing. He said: "Prior he had never carried a knife in public and had no cautions or convictions. He says he had not taken the knife to use it and panicked when he heard the screaming and took the knife out at that time and acting - in the way he did - out of panic."The fact he has not carried a knife before and has no previous convictions may help you in that he was not acting in the pre-meditated way he prosecution suggests. His good character means you can find any sense in evidence he is more likely to be telling the truth."

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