Episode 3 of The Overturn podcast, Alex Henry: My Brother Didn’t Kill, but is a Convicted Murderer.

Listen to the full episode now.

In 2013, Alex Henry was sentenced to a minimum of nineteen years under joint enterprise for a stabbing he didn’t execute. Joint Enterprise convictions have long been a source of dodgy convictions, with campaigners decrying a racially biased ‘legal dragnet’ that has seen, in particular, young boys locked up for murders they didn’t commit.

On August 6th, 2013, Alex Henry had been shopping with friends. Two of the friends were on their way home when confronted by the brothers Bourhane and Taqui Khezihi, and two of their friends. On Henry’s account, he saw a friend in trouble. As he approached, he claimed to have picked up a dropped mobile, thrown it at one of the attackers and attempted to punch another. That, he claimed, was the extent of his involvement. The facts are disputed. Bourhane claimed Henry had ‘a shiny object’ in his hand and another told the police it was a knife but he was not confident at trial.

One of Henry’s group, Cameron Ferguson, joined in the fray. He had a knife hidden in a bag and stabbed Taqui and Bourhane. Taqui’s injury proved fatal. Alex Henry claimed that it was only hours later when they regrouped in a park that they realised that Ferguson had ‘poked’ the brothers.

Alex Henry together with his friend, Janhelle Grant-Murray, were found guilty at the Old Bailey for the murder of Taqui Khezihi and wounding his brother Bourhane. Midway through a six-week trial, Ferguson changed his plea to guilty admitting to the stabbing.

Alex Henry is currently serving a sentence of life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 19 years.

Joint enterprise convictions have come under increased scrutiny over the past decade. Kim Johnson MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Miscarriages of Justice, has long been a voice on behalf of joint enterprise campaign groups in the commons. In February 2026 she wrote on the Justice Gap: ‘It has been ten years since the Supreme Court admitted that the law on joint enterprise had ‘taken a wrong turn.’ The Jogee ruling was meant to reset a system that had allowed people – often young people, often Black – to be convicted for the actions of others, sometimes with little more than presence or association being treated as proof of intent. 

That moment in 2016 felt like a watershed. Campaigners and families hoped the days of sweeping prosecutions, built on guilt by proximity or association, were numbered. A decade later, those hopes have not been realised. The uncomfortable truth is that, despite Jogee, the injustices that scarred so many families before 2016 not only persist – they have in some cases become even more entrenched.’

Much of the criticism of the law has centred on its disproportionate application against young black defendants, but charities and rights groups have also found it disproportionately sweeps up individuals with disabilities or who are neurodiverse.

In November 2024 the APPG on Miscarriages of Justice launched a landmark inquiry into joint enterprise convictions. The Westminster Commission on Joint Enterprise has heard from expert witnesses including campaigners, lawyers, academics, civil society organisations, and those with lived experience of the law’s application, and will this year present their findings to the government.

JENGbA are the leading campaign group in this area, concurrently fighting for law reform, pushing for the release of data on joint enterprise convictions, and supporting affected families. In 2025 they were voted one of the Big Issue’s Top 100 Change Makers.

The latest push to reform to the law came from the House of Lords in February 2026, as peers debated an amendment would ensure that only those who make a real, ‘significant contribution’ to a crime can be held criminally responsible.

Alex Henry’s sister, Charlotte, has been campaigning tirelessly on his behalf, and for others currently serving similarly long sentences after joint enterprise convictions. She retrained as a lawyer when her brother was convicted and is now at the forefront of the push to abolish these kinds of convictions.