The family of Yousef Makki, a promising student who was fatally stabbed by a friend, has called for a contestant on the reality television show Big Brother to be removed. The family asserts that the contestant, Lynx Noumey, allegedly celebrated the acquittal of the individual responsible for Makki's death.
Yousef Makki, 17, who had earned a scholarship at Manchester Grammar School and aspired to become a heart surgeon, sustained fatal injuries during a confrontation in Hale Barns, Greater Manchester, on March 2, 2019. The other individual involved, Joshua Molnar, also 17 at the time and from a wealthy family, was subsequently cleared of murder and manslaughter, claiming self-defense.
Makki's family has expressed distress over social media posts attributed to Noumey, 24, which they believe support Molnar and suggest he "got away with murder." The two are understood to be friends, with one social media post showing them together.
"I don't think someone like that should have a chance at a TV career," said Jade Akoum, Yousef's sister, in a statement to The Sun, urging ITV and the Big Brother production team to investigate the contestant's conduct and remove him from the program. She added, "We find this deeply offensive and profoundly distressing as a family who have had to live with the loss of Yousef every single day."
Yousef's family have consistently maintained that justice was not served. A second inquest into his death concluded that he had been unlawfully killed. Their mother, Debbie, passed away from sepsis approximately 14 months after her son's death.
Joshua Molnar was sentenced to 16 months in prison for lying to the police and possessing a knife in public. A coroner later questioned Molnar about whether his trial account had been altered to portray Yousef as more aggressive. The coroner, Geraint Williams, ruled that Molnar's use of his knife was "unnecessary, disproportionate and unreasonable" and not an act of self-defense, stating it amounted to manslaughter. Despite this, the Crown Prosecution Service declined to pursue a retrial in 2023, a decision that further disappointed the Makki family.
