Woman, 40, is found guilty of helping teenage godson who killed schoolboy, 15, in brutal gang-related attack - after she disposed of crucial evidence which was never found
A woman has been found guilty of helping her godson - who stabbed a Huddersfield schoolboy to death - by disposing of crucial evidence never found.
A woman has been found guilty of helping her godson - who stabbed a Huddersfield schoolboy to death - by disposing of crucial evidence never found.
Shereen Brown, 40, was today found guilty at Leeds Crown Court of committing an act or series of acts with the intent to pervert the course of justice.
She helped to dispose of items left in woodland close to North Huddersfield Trust School in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, by the teenagers Jovani Harriott and Jakele Pusey - who ruthlessly murdered 15-year-old Khayri Mclean on September 21, 2022.
Brown worked alongside Javayne John, 22, to get rid of the items. John previously pleaded guilty to the same charge.
He is the half-brother of cold-blooded killer Pusey and Brown is godmother to both boys.
Johns cousin Keelan John-Matheson, who was found not guilty of the same charge on Wednesday.
Khayri Mclean, 15, was murdered by two teenagers in a gang-related knife attack outside his school in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
Leeds Crown Court heard Harriott (right) and Pusey (left) waited for Khayri as he left North Huddersfield Trust School in West Yorkshire with friends on September 21, 2022
In her role as godmother, Brown sent deposits of money to Pusey while he was in custody following the brutal murder in September 2022, Leeds Crown Court heard.
During the trial, prosecutor Glenn Parsons said Brown, of Dewhurst Road in Fartown, went with John, of Annie Smith Way in Birkby, to the footpath used by Pusey and Harriott shortly before the attack.
It was said they returned with a yellow and black rucksack.
Jurors were told Brown left the area and went home while John took the bags and later returned without them.
The bags in question and the murder weapon are yet to be found by police.
Police arrived to Browns home in Huddersfield on October 19, 2022 - less than a month after the murder of Khayri Mclean.
Brown was not present at the address and was called to return home - where she handed over her phone to police.
She made no reply when cautioned or arrested.
A Tommy Hilfiger padded coat was seized from her address - the one she was seen wearing on CCTV on September 21, the prosecutor said.
Mr Parsons said John was also arrested on October 19, 2022, and his phone was seized
He had viewed a number of Huddersfield Examiner [Yorkshire Live] articles relating to Khayris stabbing.
His Honour Judge Clark bailed Brown on Wednesday and set a provisional sentencing date of October 31 this year.
Jonathan Sandiford, KC, prosecuting, said Khayri was targeted because he shared a video on social media about the window of the older attackers family home being broken
The young victim was ambushed outside the gates of North Huddersfield Trust School (pictured)
Dressed in black and wearing balaclavas, Harriott and Pusey stabbed Khayri to death with a 12-inch blade in September 2022
A police officer stands near the cordon where a flower has been placed in tribute
After a judge lifted a reporting restriction, Khayri Mcleans murderers were named, pictured and sentenced in May 2023.
Harriott was sentenced to life with a minimum of 18 years after being convicted by a jury early last year while Pusey received a 16-year minimum after pleading guilty to the murder.
Leeds Crown Court heard how the baby-faced killers waited for Khayri as he left North Huddersfield Trust School in West Yorkshire with friends on September 21, 2022.
Dressed in black and wearing balaclavas, the young cousins ambushed their 15-year-old victim and stabbed him to death with a 12-inch blade.
In a heart-rending statement read to Leeds Crown Court, Khayris mother Charlie McLean said she would never get over the senseless killing of her son by the two cowards.
She said: I would gladly give my life for him, to have him back but thats impossible.
I ask myself, what has this achieved? What has my son died for? I have lost my child and other parents have lost their two children who did this.
Nobody has won. This violence has to stop and carrying weapons has to stop.
Pusey, who admitted being part of a rival gang and was himself the victim of a gang shooting three years before, was said to be under the influence of drugs at the time of the murder.
Jonathan Sandiford, KC, prosecuting, said the younger attacker admitted being part of the F Block or Fartown gang in Huddersfield. He had been dealing drugs for the gang from the age of 13.
In a heart-rending statement read to Leeds Crown Court, Charlie McLean (pictured) said she would never get over the senseless killing of her son Khayri by two cowards
Ms McLean described how she rushed to the scene and watched helplessly as paramedics tried to save her sons life
Prosecutor Dan Lee speaks to media outside Leeds Crown Court as Charlie McLean watches on
Pusey said Khayri was targeted because he shared a video on social media about the window of the Harriotts family home being broken.
Khayri was seen as the enemy from an opposition gang, although a jury heard earlier that he had left the gang.
The horrific murder was caught on CCTV and played to the court.
Khayri staggered back towards the school before collapsing. A passing doctor helped treat him before an air ambulance arrived, but he died a short time later.
Ms McLean described how she rushed to the scene and watched helplessly as paramedics tried to save her sons life.
The fear he would have had when he realised he had been stabbed and was bleeding to death will stay with me forever, she said.
Harriott and Pusey ran off, changed clothes and hid clothing and weapons in nearby woods, where they were later collected by their associates - Brown and John.
Detective Superintendent Marc Bowes, who led the investigation, said: If ever a case has highlighted the dreadful consequences of knife crime and the culture of carrying such weapons, the appalling attack on Khayri outside his school was a crime that demonstrated the tragedy and rightly shocked people across the country.
It will be hard for many of us to comprehend how what appears to have been a relatively low level dispute, has resulted in these males stabbing a fellow student to death at the end of an otherwise ordinary school day.
The teenagers, who were dressed in black and wearing balaclavas, ambushed the victim with large knives in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, last September
A tribute at the murder scene reads: A child taken. A family crushed. We breathe despair and mourn
Shereen Brown, 40, was today found guilty at Leeds Crown Court (pictured) of committing an act or series of acts with the intent to pervert the course of justice
The murder of Khayri was a planned, organised and targeted attack.
The severity of the injuries they inflicted left Khayri with no chance of survival and left those closest to him without a much-loved son and friend and we can see to this day the impact his loss has had and continues to have on them.
The lengthy sentences given to these males will not bring Khayri back to those who have lost him but will at least keep two very dangerous males off our streets for many years to come.
