Huddersfield school stabbing: Tearful girlfriend of Khayri McLean’s ‘heart shattered’ when she learned of his ‘murder’
THE girlfriend of a teen boy stabbed to death outside his school said her heart shattered when she heard he died.
Tearful Shyana James, 16, called Khayri McLean “a really nice boy” and said: “I can’t think of any reason why someone would do this to him.”
Khayri died yesterday after he was said to have been pinned to the ground and repeatedly knifed by a masked attacker near North Huddersfield Trust School.
Shyana, who dated him for six months but knew him for five years, said: ”Khayri was a really nice boy. I met him through school. He liked playing football for school.
“I was in college and my friend was on a bus coming home and she told me, she phoned me and told me Khayri had been stabbed,” she said.
“My heart just shattered. I phoned a taxi from town and came up, but it was taped up and I couldn’t do anything.
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“I saw Khayri on the pavement with the paramedics working on him and then when the air ambulance took him to Leeds General Infirmary my mum drove me there.
“I have no idea why he has been stabbed. I can’t think of any reason why someone would do this to him.”
Her mum Sherrin, 35, said the pair were "literally inseparable", adding: "He was her first proper boyfriend. She absolutely adored him and he absolutely adored her."
Mum Marcia McLean was being comforted by family and friends at her semi-detached home in Bradley Boulevard, an eight minute walk from where Khayri was stabbed.
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She is understood to have gone to the spot where her boy was attacked this morning. She knelt down on the ground and was visibly completely overcome with emotion.
A 16-year-old boy has since been arrested on suspicion of murder, West Yorkshire Police said.
Friends and classmates have paid tribute to Khayri, while his headteacher has also released a statement following the tragedy.
Charley Burrows wrote on Facebook: "Stabbed in the street after school. Practically on our doorstep.
"I’ve no words. Just horrific. My thoughts and prayers go out to his mum and his family. Rest in Peace Khayri."
Since the school opened at 10.30am, a steady stream of heartbroken pupils and parents have visited to pay their respects.
A note from Lucy Smith read: "A child taken, a family crushed. We breathe, despair, and mourn."
Meanwhile Sophie Vanessa said: "I can’t imagine saying goodbye to my child in the morning and then after school they have been murdered. I’m lost for words. This hurts. RIP Khayri."
And Nikita Wood wrote: "Rest in eternal peace Khayri. Such a terrible tragedy happened to a young boy. My heart goes out to Khayri’s family."
At the scene, two schoolboys told how their pals had reported seeing two guys in balaclavas hanging around shortly before the final bell.
My heart just shattered
Shyana James
Ruben Duncan-Keane and Alfie Wilkinson, both 12, described seeing a teacher frantically performing CPR on the stricken teen after he had been attacked.
Ruben, who Khayri had shown around the school when he first started, said: "I'm traumatised. I just saw him lying on the floor and saw a teacher trying to give him chest compressions.
"His eyed rolled back into his head and I knew at that point he'd lost his life."
The boys had visited Woodhouse Hill to lay flowers in memory of Khayri with their mums.
Alfie said: "I didn't get much sleep last night, I kept waking up.
"As soon as I heard the news that he'd died I burst into tears.
"He'd just started year 11 and was preparing for his GCSEs. It shouldn't happen.
"He was a very popular guy. I never saw him without his friends and I never saw him have an argument.
"He was a great student, a great kid. I'm staying close to home every day just so it doesn't happen to me."
'A PARENT'S WORST NIGHTMARE'
Worried mums and dads have described the incident as shocking, frightening and a parent’s worst nightmare.
One man, 41, said: "This kind of stuff can traumatise kids."
A mum-of-two, 43, added: "It makes you frightened to send your children to school. They should be safe.
"It’s heartbreaking and shocking. What is the world coming to?”
Another dad, 46, who has a son at the school, told : "It was a scary moment when I heard there had been trouble and a teacher answered my 14-year-old son’s phone.
"I was asked by staff to come and collect him. I’ve heard that it all came out of nowhere.
"This pupil was grabbed, pinned to the floor and stabbed repeatedly."
While a second dad said: "My daughter’s just started there and was getting on the bus home.
"A lad in a black hat and snood jumped out on a pupil and stabbed him and ran off."
A local mum of three with grown-up children, who goes by name of ‘P’, said she too heard a lad had pinned Khayri down and stabbed him.
"My heart just sank - it is scary. It is a parent's worst nightmare," she added.
Yorkshire Air Ambulance blocked off the surrounding roads as parents collected their kids at the end of the day.
In a statement posted on the North Huddersfield Trust School website, head Andrew Fell said: "Our deepest sympathies go out to the pupil's family and friends who must feel, as we do, completely devastated.
"They have lost a loved one and we have lost a wonderful student from our school community."
A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said: "A 16-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder in relation to the death of a 15-year-old boy who was stabbed in an incident in Huddersfield yesterday.
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"The youth was arrested at an address in Huddersfield shortly before 5am this morning in connection with the incident in Woodhouse Hill, Fartown, yesterday afternoon.
"He remains in custody and enquiries are ongoing led by detectives from West Yorkshire Police Homicide and Major Enquiry Team."
