Who was Dea-John Reid and what happened to him?

Dea-John Reid was fourteen when he died after being stabbed in Birmingham.

On Wednesday, a jury at Birmingham Crown Court found George Khan and Michael Shields not guilty of his murder.

It also found a 16-year-old and two 15-year-old's not guilty of the same offence.

However the jury found the boy who actually stabbed Dea-John Reid guilty of manslaughter and sentence was adjourned until May 5.

For legal reasons none of the teenagers can be named.

Who was Dea-John Reid?

Dea-John was a year nine pupil at Harborne Academy when he was stabbed on College Road, Kingstanding, Birmingham in May 2021.

After his death more than 1,000 people attended a vigil at the site of the stabbing, releasing balloons and saying prayers.

His mother, Joan, made an emotional statement at the time, saying: "I sent my son to play football and he didn’t come home, what am I supposed to do?"

"My son is so talented. I miss my son, he was a lovely kid," she said.

“He always gave me my medication, he made my tea. What am I supposed to do without him? I can’t live without him.

"They’ve taken away my son’s life, my son hasn’t even grown up to give me a grandchild."

What happened on the May 21, 2021 to Dea-John?

It is alleged that Dea-John may have been involved in some kind of incident with his would-be killers earlier in the day.

Prosecuting barristers say that he was chased by the group, who behaved like "a pack" onto college road, where he was stabbed.

One boy has admitted causing Dea-John's death but has denied murdering him, and said he was acting in self defence.

What was the reaction to Dea-John Reid's death?

After Dea-John was killed police said they wanted to "tackle the pandemic" of youth violence in the region.

He was the fifth teenager to be killed in Birmingham in 2021.

"Nobody could hide the fact that in our major cities this issue of young people and children being involved in violent acts, the carriage of weapons, gangs, and the county lines phenomena around drugs is a major concern," said West Midlands Police chief constable Dave Thompson

He said tackling youth violence would be his "top priority".