Teenage killers stabbed prison inmate six months after being jailed for murder

Western Telegraph

22-07-2025

Cousins Jakele Pusey, 17, and Jovani Harriott, 19, were detained for life in May 2023 and given minimum terms of 16 and 18 years, respectively, for the murder of Khayri Mclean.
The pair had lain in wait for Khayri outside his Huddersfield school, wearing masks and carrying large knives, before attacking him in front of other horrified school children.
Jovani Harriott was detained for life in May 2023, with a minimum term of 18 years (West Yorkshire Police/PA)
Leeds Crown Court heard that six months after being sentenced for the murder, Pusey and Harriott were serving their sentences together at HMP Wetherby when they and two other teenagers launched a group attack on another inmate in the prison's gym.
They used 'improvised weapons' to stab him more than 20 times across his arm, lower back and head while he was helpless on the ground.
Pusey and Harriott both pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm and possession of a knife in prison.
Pusey, who was 16 at the time, was sentenced to 32 months in prison, on top of his sentence for murdering Khayri.
Harriott, who was 18 at the time, was sentenced to a further 38 months in prison.
Judge Ray Singh lifted a reporting restriction that prevented Pusey from being identified due to his age, saying he had already been named in the murder case.
Khayri Mclean, 15, was murdered in 2023 (West Yorkshire Police/PA)
The court heard footage of the prison attack in November 2023 showed Harriott and Pusey standing against the gym wall, watching the victim while he was working out.
As he knelt on the bench to do some weights, one of their co-defendants, who the judge said could not be named as he is 17 and has never been identified publicly, hit the victim in the face.
The court heard that it appeared to be the trigger for the planned attack, as within a split second of the punch, Pusey and Harriott came off the wall and started to punch the victim.
The three of them chased him across the gym floor into a corner and punched, kicked and stamped on him. Pusey and Harriott also stabbed him with improvised weapons.
A judge heard that a fourth person, Thomas Murray, 18, joined in the attack, which lasted just under a minute before it was broken up by security staff.
The court heard it was unclear what the cause of the attack was, but the victim appeared to have 'beef' with the 17-year-old who threw the first punch.
In mitigation for Pusey, the court heard at that early point in his sentence, he hadn't engaged with psychiatrists and has now 'started to make progress in terms of starting to think about why these offences have been committed'.
The judge heard Harriott is to undertake an anger management course and that 'a great deal can change' before he is in his 30s and can be considered for release.
Murray, who, like Pusey and Harriott, pleaded guilty to a Section 18 assault causing grievous bodily harm, was sentenced to 30 months' imprisonment.
The 17-year-old, who pleaded guilty to a Section 20 assault, was sentenced to 36 months' imprisonment.
Khayri Mclean, 15, was stabbed while making his way home from North Huddersfield Trust School (NHTS), in the West Yorkshire town, on September 21 2022.
A trial heard he was stabbed in the chest by then 15-year-old Pusey, who was described by prosecutors as 'jumping into the air and swinging a knife with a 30cm blade'.
Harriott followed up the initial attack, running after Khayri and stabbing him in his lower leg.