A judge has granted permission for a full judicial review into the inquest of Yousef Makki.
The family of the 17-year-old - who was fatally stabbed in Hale Barns in 2019 - pushed for a review to quash the narrative conclusion recorded by a coroner following a seven-day inquest in November. They described the conclusion as 'disgusting' after Senior South Manchester Coroner Alison Mutch said she could not safely conclude the death was either unlawful or accidental.
An application was made to High Court by a QC acting for Yousef's father Ghaleb Makki. Today (May 18), at the Manchester Civil Justice Centre, the review was granted.
READ MORE: Disturbing pictures the family of Yousef Makki want all parents to see
Yousef, a talented bursary student at the elite Manchester Grammar School from Burnage, was fatally stabbed through the heart by his friend Joshua Molnar, a former public schoolboy from a wealthy Hale family, during a confrontation in Hale Barns on March 2, 2019.
A jury acquitted Molnar, now 20, of murder and manslaughter later that year, although he was handed a 16-month detention and training order after admitting possessing the knife which inflicted the fatal injury and lying to police at the scene. He says he acted in self-defence, alleging Yousef pushed and punched him and called him 'p*ssy'.
At the hearing in the High Court today, Matthew Stanbury, representing the Makki family, claimed the coroner's ruling - that what happened could not be known - was 'inevitable' due to the failure to analyse and 'grapple' with central issues in the case. Mr Stanbury said the issues included Molnar's credibility and 'numerous lies', his state of mind at the time of the stabbing, the question of who was the first to take out a knife and pathological evidence.
He asked for permission for a judicial review in the hope of holding a fresh inquest in due course before the chief coroner or a judge. Mrs Justice Heather Williams granted permission for the judicial review and after she left the courtroom a round of applause broke out from the Makki family and supporters.
Yousef's father, Ghaleb Makki, said: "There's still a long way to go but it's a small step in the right direction."
Mr Stanbury said: "Today is a significant step forward and we are optimistic about getting a fresh inquest."
Following November's inquest, Senior South Manchester Coroner Ms Mutch recorded a narrative conclusion, saying: "Yousef died from complications of a stab wound to chest. The precise circumstances in which he was wounded cannot, on balance of probabilities, be ascertained."
The family's formal application for a judicial review, written by Pete Weatherby QC who represented them at the inquest, argued the coroner's ruling was 'unreasonable' as it 'failed to address or make findings on central matters in the case such as to enable her to reach a conclusion - on the balance of probabilities - as to the lawfulness of the killing'.
The QC said the coroner 'failed to address or offer any analysis' about Joshua Molnar's credibility, state of mind at the time of the stabbing or whether he produced a knife before Yousef, or whether Yousef had drawn a knife at all. A date and venue for the judicial review has yet to be determined.
Molnar's co-defendant at the 2019 trial, Adam Chowdhary, also 17 at the time but now 19, from Hale Barns, who described Yousef as his 'best friend' at MGS, was acquitted of perverting the course of justice. He was given a four-month detention order after admitting possession of a flick knife, one of two he claimed he and Yousef had jointly ordered during a break from lessons at MGS.
