Teens who stabbed law student for designer jacket found guilty of manslaughter

Two teenagers have been convicted of manslaughter after an 18-year-old law student was stabbed in the neck for a designer jacket outside his north London home.

First year Soas student Hussain Chaudhry met Marvin Ward and Alex Morris, both 18, at his home in Walthamstow on 17 March to sell them a designer jacket he had advertised on social media, Wood Green Crown Court heard.

Ward and Morris, both from Ilford, had gone to the address armed with machetes and once inside, Ward held Chaudhry and his two friends at knifepoint while Morris searched the house for more items to steal.

When Chaudhry's mother returned home, her son rushed to protect her from the intruders, which alerted his two brothers to a commotion in the house.

Hussain's brothers managed to detain Morris before a fight broke out outside the house as Ward tried to flee the scene.

During the struggle, Chaudhry suffered a fatal stab injury to his neck.

His mother suffered a serious injury to her thumb and his brother an injury to his hand.

Ward fled and Morris managed to escape from an upstairs window in the property.

Officers from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command identified Ward and Morris from CCTV footage of the attack, which took place shortly after 5pm.

Ward was arrested on 19 March and Morris two days later. Morris, who was arrested at an address in Luton, had been helped to evade police capture by Anthony Nguyen, 18, of Belvedere.

Ward and Morris were both found guilty of manslaughter and robbery on Friday after a seven-week trial at Wood Green Crown Court.

Morris was also found guilty of possession of a machete in a public place and they were both also found guilty of maliciously wounding Chaudhry's mother and brother during the incident.

Nguyen was found guilty of assisting an offender.

Detective Chief Inspector Mike Stubbins, the senior officer in the case, said: "Hussain’s murder was a tragedy that shocked the community to its core. His life was tragically cut short due to the actions of two young men the same age as him.

"It could have been anybody’s son. He was a hardworking student studying law at the SOAS University of London. He kept himself out of trouble and was selling some clothes to make some extra cash.

"Ward and Morris went purposefully to Hussain’s family home to commit a robbery and steal the clothes. They had made clear arrangements to facilitate this by taking large machete style knives, fake money and stalling things to get into a booked taxi.

"If things went wrong, they would happily and willingly resort to threatening or using violence. The circumstances of a designer clothing sale should never have resulted in his life ending in such a brutal way."

He said Chaudhry's family faces a "huge emotional and psychological burden" of trying to come to terms with the 18-year-old's death.

Ward, Morris and Nguyen will be sentenced on Friday 4 February 2022.