Musa Salih

Introduction

Musa Salih is a 19-year-old man from Launceston Road, Greenford, London, who was jailed for 25 years for the murder of Harley Purdue, also 19, who was stabbed eight times at a house in Thorold Road, Chatham, Kent, at around 3am on December 2, 2025. Kent Police described the attack as unprovoked. Salih denied the offence, but a jury at Maidstone Crown Court found him guilty of murder on October 15, 2026, and he was sentenced there on November 4, 2026, with the 25-year term reduced to 24 years and 30 days to account for time served on remand. The case drew particular attention after the court heard that Salih had asked an artificial intelligence app for legal advice and updates about the incident while on the run from the killing.

Background Information

According to the account heard in court, Salih lured Purdue to the communal basement of the Thorold Road address with the intention of locking him in a toilet so that he could steal money from his bedroom. An altercation broke out after Salih attempted to trap Purdue in the toilet, and it was during that struggle that the stabbing took place. Purdue’s girlfriend intervened during the attack, and Salih attempted to injure her before fleeing the house and the Medway area entirely. He was arrested later the same day in Lewisham, south London. A subsequent review of his phone showed he had asked an AI app for legal advice and updates about the incident while the investigation was under way.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted and sentenced. Salih was convicted of murder at Maidstone Crown Court in October 2026 and jailed for 25 years, reduced to 24 years and 30 days for time on remand, in November 2026.

Harley Purdue died from eight stab wounds inflicted at around 3am on December 2, 2025, in an attack Kent Police called unprovoked. Salih’s plan, in the police account, was to trap his victim in a basement toilet and take money from his bedroom while armed with a knife. After Purdue’s girlfriend intervened, Salih tried to injure her as well before running from the house and the area, and was picked up in Lewisham the same day. He denied murdering Purdue throughout, but the jury at Maidstone Crown Court rejected his account after a trial, convicting him on October 15, 2026. Detective Sergeant Alastair Worton said after sentencing: “Today’s sentencing reflects the seriousness of his crime which has left a young man’s family and friends heartbroken and in grief,” adding: “Salih’s plan to steal Mr Purdue’s money in the middle of the night, whilst armed with a knife, has resulted in a man’s death and his own detention for 25 years.”

Public Reaction and Consequences

Purdue’s family released a statement after the sentencing, thanking Kent Police and the Crown Prosecution Service for their continued support and asking that he be remembered for who he was: “We would like Harley to be remembered as the fun, loving, gentle giant that he was.” The detective leading the case framed the outcome as the direct product of Salih’s own plan, telling the court that the bungled overnight attempt to steal money while armed had ended one young man’s life and put the perpetrator in prison for decades. The sentence of 25 years, reduced only by the 212 days Salih had already spent in custody, was handed down for a victim and perpetrator who were both 19 years old at the time of the killing.

Current Status

Salih, 19, is serving a sentence of 24 years and 30 days following the November 4, 2026 sentencing at Maidstone Crown Court, having been convicted of murder the month before after a trial in which he denied the offence. The sentence reflects the murder conviction itself; the court heard no separate penalty for the attempted injury of Purdue’s girlfriend, who was named in the case account as the person who intervened during the attack. The case remains one of the notable Kent convictions of 2026 both for the age of those involved and for the detail that the defendant consulted an AI application about his legal position while evading and then facing the investigation.

Impact on Their Career/Life

At 19, Salih begins a sentence that will keep him in prison into his early forties, the result of a plan he formed to rob an acquaintance that instead produced a murder conviction after trial. The public record of the case now includes the prosecution’s account of the lure to the basement, the intervention by Purdue’s girlfriend, the flight to Lewisham and the AI-assisted searches on his phone, each of which was set out in open court. For Purdue’s family in Kent, the sentencing closed a case that began with a 3am phone call on December 2, 2025, and ended with a statement asking that a “fun, loving, gentle giant” be remembered rather than the manner of his death.

Sources

• Kent Local News, “Man jailed for 25 years over fatal knife attack in Chatham,” November 2026. source