A 17-YEAR-OLD has been cleared of murdering CJ Hendricks.

A jury of 11 returned a not-guilty verdict of murder and manslaughter at the Old Bailey today.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was accused of stabbing the 18-year-old to death near Walthamstow central bus station during a fight between five young people, allegedly over territory.

Mr Hendricks was stabbed twice in the chest and died an hour later.

As the verdict was delivered by the jury foreman, the family of CJ Hendricks cried and screamed.

His mother, Melanie Hendricks, had to be helped out of the court.

At an earlier hearing, Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, told the jury that the teenagers going into the park prepared for a fight with knives.

He said that the defendant, who was 16 at the time of Mr Hendricks' death, stabbed Mr Hendricks twice.

But the defendant said that the steak knife used to kill Mr Hendricks was not his.

He said Mr Hendricks' was carrying the knife and dropped it during a scuffle.

Following an seven-day trial, the jury deliberated for a total of eight hours and 46 minutes.

Because a unanimous verdict could not be reached, Judge Gerald Gordon said he would accept a majority verdict of at least 10 to one.

Judge Gordon told the jury after the verdict: “These cases aren't easy. Everyone has to operate on the basis of the circumstances that occurred and it was very difficult to work out what happened.

“We have to apply the law and legal process. The one thing we cannot allow is a miscarriage of justice.”

Mr Hendricks was the 24th teenager to be killed on London's street's last year and was the third to die within weeks in Waltham Forest, following the deaths of Adnan Patel in Leyton and Yusufu Miiro in Walthamstow.

Following the popular student's death, there was an outpouring of grief in the community, many of whom left flowers and cards for Mr Hendricks at Walthamstow Central bus station, close to the scene of his death.

About 700 mourners packed Elim Pentecostal Church, in Fairlop Road, Leytonstone, for Mr Hendricks funeral on October 3 last year.

The euology said: “Everyone who knew CJ would remember him for his smile which would light up the room.”

His father, Charles Hendricks Snr, and aunts and cousins also took part in the 'People's Protest' last September.

The four-hour march through London ended in a rally in Hyde Park to call for an end to violence on the streets.