Pair jailed for role in helping teenage killers

Two people who helped two teenage killers hide their clothes and possibly kill weapons have been jailed.

Shereen Brown, 40, of Dewhurst Road, Fartown, was previously found guilty of perverting the course of justice in connection with investigations into the death of 15-year-old Khayri Mclean in Huddersfield in September 2022.

Javayne John, 22, of Annie Smith Way, already admitted the same offence.

Brown was jailed for 30 months at Leeds Crown Court on Thursday and John was jailed for 20 months.

The court heard that Brown was the godmother of one of Khayri’s killers, Jakele Pusey, while John was his half-brother.

His Honor Judge Neil Clark said both defendants formed a plan, possibly with others, to hide “highly relevant evidence” which was never found.

“What happened here was a concerted effort to frustrate the investigation into the serious matter of the stabbing of a school child,” he told the court.

“Even if they didn’t realize that Khayri McLean had been killed, everyone would have known that this was very serious.”

The hearing was told that Pusey and his co-accused, Jovani Harriott, changed clothes before and after the attack.

They had been seen on CCTV carrying bags down a lane near a forest before emerging in different outfits.

Prosecuting barrister Ben Hammersley said the bags contained clothing and “potentially” murder weapons.

After Khayri was fatally stabbed while walking home from school, the court heard a series of phone calls were made between Brown, John and others who knew the killers.

Brown and John were later seen on CCTV heading towards the woods where the bags were believed to have been hidden and then walking out with them.

John, who has no previous convictions, was then seen taking the bags into a car before returning without them.

Mitigating, Danielle Graham said the act of her client, then 20, “appeared to be one of instinct born of love for his brother, combined with his immaturity and limited thinking skills”.

She claimed he was unaware of the “full horror of what happened”.

Mitigating for Brown, Rick Holland said she was a single mother of a 17-year-old boy who worked two cleaning jobs.

It was “difficult to see” that there was any motivation other than misplaced loyalty, he added.

However, Judge Clark said Brown should have kept Khayri’s mother in mind as he tried to protect his bottom line.

He told the defendants that their “mistaken loyalty cannot be considered an excuse.”

John’s sentence was reduced by a third because of his guilty plea.

Judge Clark said the defendants could serve less than half of their sentences in prison.

He said the situation was “fluid, depending on prison overcrowding and government decisions.”

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