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Man denies murdering boy, 16, in fatal stabbing

Alex Moss
BBC News, Yorkshire
West Yorkshire Police Ahmad Mamdouh Al Ibrahim looks at the camera. He has curly black hair and is wearing a black hooded coatWest Yorkshire Police
Ahmad Mamdouh Al Ibrahim died from a single stab wound to his neck

A man has denied murdering a 16-year-old boy who was fatally stabbed in Huddersfield town centre.

Ahmad Mamdouh Al Ibrahim died in hospital after being stabbed in the neck during an incident in Ramsden Street on 3 April.

Appearing via video-link at Leeds Crown Court, 20-year-old Alfie Franco pleaded not guilty to murdering Ahmad but admitted a charge of possessing a knife in a public place.

Mr Franco, of The Crescent, in Kirkburton, was remanded in custody ahead of a trial on 6 October.

Alex Moss/BBC A police man stands, arms crossed, behind blue police tape and a row of orange cones. A police van is parked in a quite town centre street.Alex Moss/BBC
The fatal stabbing happened in the town centre in April

Speaking following his death, Ahmad's family said he had arrived in the UK after fleeing Homs in Syria, where he had been injured in a bombing.

They said he had been living in South Wales area before moving to Huddersfield.

Homs was the scene of fierce fighting in the country's civil war, which began in 2011 following anti-government protests against former president, Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated that more than 650,000 people were killed in the 13-year conflict.

In a statement his family he said had been "full of hope and dreamed of becoming a doctor—wanting to heal others after all he had endured".

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