Manchester MP to write to minister over ‘guilty by association’ verdicts

Ademola Adedeji, one of the four teenagers convicted who had no weapons, committed no violence and did not go on any ‘scoping missions’. Photograph: Space inBetween

A Manchester MP is to raise concerns with the justice secretary over the conviction of several young black men who were jailed after taking part in a group chat discussing revenge for their friend’s murder.

Lucy Powell, the MP for Manchester Central and shadow culture secretary, said it was just the latest example of black youths in her constituency being unfairly drawn into a “gang” narrative because of the music they listen to and who they know.