Teenager, 17, laughs as he is jailed for 19 years for killing boy, 16, who he stabbed in the back at a school bus stop while on bail for threatening a moped rider with a machete

A teenage killer who stabbed a boy in the back at a school bus stop laughed as he was handed a life sentence for murder.

Myglor Yambuya, 17, chased Renell Charles and stabbed him in the back outside Kelmscott School in Walthamstow, east London, on May 5 last year.

Yambuya was on bail at the time for threatening a moped driver with a machete. He is also convicted of assaulting a police officer who caught him damaging a bus shelter and possessing a machete in 2022.

Renell was a passionate campaigner against knife crime and had appeared in a video by filmmaker Kay Rufai, saying innocent ‘young black boys like me’ were being killed as a result of increased violence.

Yambuya, who can now be named after a judge lifted an order on his anonymity, smiled as he was today handed a life sentence and ordered to serve a minimum of 19 years in prison.

Jailing the smiling thug, Judge Murray Shanks said: ‘This was a brutal murder in broad daylight on a busy London street.

‘It seems you thought you could do anything you wanted without regard for the consequences to others. I can’t be sure you intended to kill Renell when you stabbed him.

“But as I have described, you clearly knew what you were doing and you must have known that it involved the certainty of really serious injury and a very significant risk of death.

‘The consequences of what you did are truly terrible. You have taken away Renell’s life and future at the age of 16.

‘There is nothing I can add to the rich tributes given by his parents and grandmother and his headmaster that we have heard.

‘You have left his family and friends and a whole community completely bereft. The sense of loss, sadness and justified anger on the part of his parents and grandmother is palpable.

‘You have contributed to an exaggerated and understandable sense of fear and uncertainty that plagues our streets.

“You have contributed to an unfair perception of a generation of young men growing up in certain parts of London.

‘You have brought misery and shame upon your own family. You have pretty much ruined your own life for no discernible reason’.

Renell’s mother Jenita Charles, reading a impact statement earlier, spoke through tears as she addressed Yambuya in the dock: ‘Myglor Yambuya, you were the darkness that met my beautiful boy.

– I am completely devastated and forever changed by Michael Yambuya’s violent temper. The finality of his death continues to break me a million times.

‘Renell spoke to me about boys like you. Having this need to infuse themselves with violent acts to gain acceptance with violent gangs.

‘Renell would say it’s all for impact and attention. Renell’s family and friends and the wider community believe that you Myglor Yambuya murdered Renell because you were jealous of Renell’s popularity status.

‘Myglor Yambuya, you taunted us with smiles and laughter and horrible looks and squirming in your chair with no sign of reflection having taken place.

Renell’s father Charles said: ‘Renell had charisma and offered something different. He wanted to bring out the best version of people he met. He could calm an angry child and make him listen. I admired this in him.

‘5. May is a day I will never forget. I saw my son lying motionless on the ground. A paramedic sat over him and Renell’s chest was wide open.

‘I can’t erase this image from my mind. I believe that Renell’s killer has not shown an ounce of remorse or remorse. I can’t help but feel disturbed by this.

‘I still feel numb and still trying to make sense of it all. I wonder how someone can be so mean to someone who had not hurt them in any way.’

Renell’s grandmother described the killer as a “predator hell bent on carrying out his demon-driven task”.

Sam Jones, Renell’s headteacher at Kelmscott School, said in his statement that Renell had ‘wanted a just world for all’ and described his death as ‘totally senseless’.

‘He was charismatic, smart, funny, handsome and the life and soul of his teaching group. He would always stand up for what he believed in and for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves’.‘

Judge Murray Shanks lifted Yambuya’s anonymity order, made under section 45 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, as he turns 18 and loses his anonymity in June.

He said: ‘I firmly believe that in this case it is appropriate to lift the restrictions.

“It is clear that a story in the press that lacks essential details, most significantly the identity of the perpetrator, lacks a major detail of its interest and power.

‘The defendant’s name may actually be published in three months when he turns 18 in any case, but by then any story would no longer have the same force.’

Former prosecutor Peter Ratliff said Renell was attacked at around 4pm after leaving school for the day. He said: ‘The defendant was traveling in a taxi but when he saw the victim he demanded the driver stop.

“The defendant got out of the vehicle, ran towards the victim and assaulted him, knocking him to the ground.

‘He then chased the victim, pulling out a large machete as he did so and stabbing the victim several times.’

Ambulance and air ambulance services attended but Renell died at the scene.

Yambuya made his escape in a taxi, changed his SIM card and went to the Tottenham area of ​​north London.

Three days later, he surrendered himself at Forest Gate police station. He did not comment when questioned by detectives.

Yambuya claimed he had never met Renell before, but the 16-year-old had mocked a friend of his on social media.

He admitted he had a knife for protection when he accidentally bumped into Renell on May 5. Yambuya said he confronted Rennell and they started fighting.

He told the court: ‘We traded blows. He says “your fucking pussy I’m going to wet you up”. I panicked and pulled a knife out of my waistband. I thought I had to scare him away.

‘He reached for his bag. I was thinking about my safety, I was panicking. I was scared and panicked. I thought he would do something. I felt in danger chasing him.

‘I did not intend to kill him to cause him serious harm. I wanted to stop him taking whatever it was out of the bag.’

‘We both fell to the ground. I am not sure when the fatal stab was inflicted.

‘Maybe when we were on the floor, maybe when I grabbed, I don’t remember doing it (poorly stabbing him).’

In his closing speech, Naeem Mian, KC, defending Yambuya, told jurors: ‘Imagine, like him, speaking in front of a room full of strangers, men in funny clothes, in front of a judge. The only people rooting for him in this room are me and him.

‘I hope I encourage you that when you walk out that door and sit around the table to apply the same standard to him that you would apply to anyone else that you would have applied to you, that you wishes applied to one of your loved ones.’

‘He’s an idiot, not a murderer’.