A new inquest has been ordered into the death of Yousef Makki, a 17-year-old boy who was stabbed to death in 2019.
He was killed by his friend Joshua Molnar with a flick knife after a row in the upmarket village of Hale Barns, Greater Manchester, in the early evening of March 2.
Molnar, now 21, was cleared of manslaughter and murder by a jury following a four-week trial at Manchester Crown Court in July 2019.
He said he acted in self-defence, alleging Yousef pushed him and pulled a knife on him.
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.
In 2021 a coroner ruled she could not reach a verdict of unlawful killing as the precise circumstances of the death "could not be ascertained", a conclusion that infuriated the Makki family.
Today the family were told judges have quashed the judgement and their campaign for a fresh inquest has succeeded, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Peter Weatherby KC and solicitor Matthew Stanbury said in a statement: "The family have acted with incredible dignity throughout the legal processes since Yousef’s death.
"They are very pleased with the High Court’s decision, and although they recognise that no legal process can bring Yousef back, they hope that some semblance of justice can now be obtained."
Previously, Yousef's family had applied for a judicial review of the coroner's findings, which took place at Manchester's Civil Justice Centre in November last year before Mr Justice Fordham and Lady Justice Macur.
Peter Weatherby KC told the hearing that Ms Mutch should have "strived to make a finding" that Yousef's death was accidental or unlawful.
He said: "In essence, the coroner found insufficient evidence on the balance of probabilities that he was unlawfully killed… we say that there was a wealth of evidence."
Mr Weatherby referenced Molnar’s differing accounts that he said changed from what he told police at the scene in the immediate aftermath of the stabbing, to his trial, and then eventually the inquest.
After stabbing Yousef, Molnar told police officers that he had been around the corner at the time and had not seen what had happened. He added that the culprits had sped off in a silver hatchback.
During his trial, Molnar changed his story but said that Yousef had brandished his own knife first, before he got his out in self-defence. Then, during the inquest, Molnar said he could not remember who had taken the knife out first.
Yousef's mum Debbie, 55, died of a "broken heart" in May 2020 as she had never recovered from her son's death, according to the family.
After her son died, the woman called for justice and said she hoped to "rid communities of knife crime".
Debbie said: "We are completely broken, all we can try and do is change things for our kids, for the future.
"Every city has seen the effects of knife crime, it's taken young lives and devastated families like ours."
