Police released a video showing the last seconds of the life of student Dea-John Reed, while he was being chased and then stabbed by a teenager with a knife. A 14-year-old boy can be seen fleeing for his life while a 15-year-old boy raises a knife in the air, seconds before he was killed against McDonald’s on College Road in Kingstend.
The grim video was released by police at the request of the victim’s family after Dea-John’s killer was in prison for six and a half years. His devastated family is campaigning after two men and two teenagers were acquitted of murder in a Birmingham court.
A 15-year-old boy, whose name could not be named for legal reasons, was acquitted of the murder but was found guilty of manslaughter and was jailed earlier this month. Bishop Desmond Jadou, who supports the family, said: “It is important for every mother or family member to watch a lawsuit and watch the last 90 minutes of a child’s life.
Read more: Dea’s mother John Reed says son was killed in scenes directly from the “Lynch in Mississippi”
“Dea-John Reed’s family welcomes the release of video surveillance footage showing the last moments of his life. We will step up our campaign in the coming weeks and months.
“We hope that these photos, which are being made public, put families’ dissatisfaction with the jury’s verdict in perspective.” Dea-John’s mother, Joan Morris, said earlier that she felt “the justice system had let me down” and that her son’s life “didn’t matter”.
Dea-Joh Reid (Image: BPM Media)
She said: “I trust the system, but I sincerely believe that this system has disappointed me.”
The court heard the killer was driven around the Kingstend area in search of Dea-John, who was chased in a park and racially abused by the car. After being stabbed with a kitchen knife, Dea-John picked up his T-shirt, shivered, and collapsed before his assailant fled, leaving him to die in the street.
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The court found that the attack was revenge for the fact that one of the defendant’s group was robbed of his bag. Michael Shields, 36, George Hahn, 39, and two other youths were acquitted of murder, while Holly Davis, 36, was found not guilty of aiding and abetting an offender.
Detective Sean Edwards said after the incident: “Dia-John was a 14-year-old boy – just a child with a lifetime ahead of him. He had no convictions or warnings; he was an innocent boy.
“To lose his life in such a horrible way, shattering all his family’s hopes of seeing him grow, is absolutely tragic. I can’t imagine how it feels to be a family, not only to lose a son in such tragic circumstances, but also to go through the process of seeing video surveillance graphics of your child’s last moments played in a courtroom. “
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