Yousef Makki: 'Wannabe hard man' stabbed boy, court hears

A teenager accused of murdering his friend is a "wannabe hard man" who is "obsessed" with knives, a jury heard.

Yousef Makki, 17, was stabbed to death on 2 March in a row over an attempt to rob a drug dealer, Manchester Crown Court has heard.

Boy A, also 17, denies murder, claiming he acted in self-defence after Yousef pulled out a knife.

Nicholas Johnson QC, prosecuting, said Boy A had "lost face" and his response was to stab his friend in the heart.

Mr Johnson told the jury Boy A, who cannot be named, routinely carried a knife, smoked cannabis and made videos on his phone of him posing with blades.

He said Boy A was "in a mood" after Yousef had either insulted him or laughed at him during a row on a street in Hale Barns, Cheshire, and he reacted by "pushing in his shank".

"It was a petulant, malicious response of a wannabe hard man who had lost face and could not get his own way," he told the jury.

Mr Johnson said he was not suggesting that Boy A had prepared for murder but he had practised the stabbing move, "which he delivered with deadly efficiency".

Prosecutors allege that earlier, a second youth, Boy B, arranged a £45 cannabis deal and the teenagers planned to rob the drug dealer.

When the robbery went wrong Yousef and Boy B fled, leaving Boy A to take a beating, the trial heard.

Boy A has admitted lying to police at the scene and has pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and possessing a flick-knife.

He denies murder and a charge of conspiracy to robbery.

Boy B, also 17, has admitted possessing a flick knife but denies perverting the course of justice and conspiracy to rob.

The trial continues.