Teen who ‘hunted’ for victims before killing schoolboy jailed for 13 years

A ‘disturbed’ teenager who stabbed a 12-year-old schoolboy to death after spending three days ‘hunting’ for victims to attack has been jailed for at least 13 years.

The callous killer even pretended to be a witness at the scene of his attacks, including while innocent Leo Ross lay dying after being knifed in a ‘completely random and unprovoked’ assault.

The 15-year-old, who cannot yet be named, admitted Leo’s murder as well as attacks on three elderly women in as many days beforehand, all in Birmingham’s Shire Country Park.

Judge Mr Justice Choudhury told him: ‘What you did in the park last January is horrific and shocking. ‘You went around the park looking for people to hurt. You chose people who were weaker and smaller than you.

‘I hope you realise how cowardly your actions were.’

The judge said: ‘You are still a child – you were 14 years old at the time of these offences.

‘Most right-thinking people would struggle to comprehend what you did over the course of just three days.’

He added: ‘You engaged in a campaign of serious violence against different people, culminating in the fatal stabbing of Leo.

‘The devastation you have caused to so many lives is hard to comprehend.’

Court Number One at Birmingham Crown Court was packed with members of Leo’s family as his killer was sentenced.

Leo’s father Chris Ross told the teen in the dock to look at him as he gave his victim impact statement from the witness box.

The defendant looked up from the floor as Mr Ross said: ‘You killed my son, your horrendous act has destroyed me. Look at me.

‘Leo was loved by everyone, everyone said how special he was. He was the kindest little boy.

‘It breaks my heart to think he was alone and I wasn’t there to protect him because of you. He was on his own, scared, lying in a bush.

‘Leo would never have hurt a soul, he never did anything to anybody. That day has meant I am living a life sentence, you know.

‘Without my special little boy there is no minimum term to my sentence. It breaks my heart. Leo, I will always miss you and I will get justice.’

Leo’s mum Rachel Fisher said he was ‘truly the most kind, funny and caring little boy’.

She said her family had been ‘shattered’ by Leo’s death, which happened on his grandmother’s birthday, and his grandfather suffered a heart attack at his funeral.

‘He was my first-born child. I love Leo more than life itself. My life will never be the same again,’ she said.

‘He was so excited to meet his baby brother and he will never be able to do that. My whole family have been shattered.

‘Everyone has lost the most beautiful little soul, for what? We won’t ever know why such an innocent young boy, just walking home from school, minding his business, was robbed of his life for no reason whatsoever.

‘If love could have saved Leo, he would have lived forever. Losing my beautiful boy the way I did will haunt me forever.’

Following his convictions last month, it was reported the boy had a reputation for violence in the Hall Green area where he lived and was known to police.

He is understood to have been expelled from both mainstream school and a specialist pupil referral unit, instead spending his days riding around on a scooter or bicycle.

In his first attack, the boy told an 82-year-old woman ‘I tried to drown you, but now I’m going to kill you’ after pushing her into a river and hitting her with her own walking pole.

Rachel Brand KC, prosecuting, told the sentencing hearing the woman was walking alone at some point between 12.30pm and 1.15pm on January 19.

Ms Brand said: ‘He approached her from behind and pushed her forcefully down and forward. She fell into a ditch next to the river. She believes she had been underwater and found herself soaked.

‘The defendant told her: ‘I tried to drown you. But now I’m going to kill you instead’, and he struck her several times with her own walking pole.’

The attacker then told her: ‘I would like to get some help, but you will tell on me.’

He went on to tell someone nearby: ‘There’s an old lady in the water and she needs help.’

The victim was taken to hospital and was found to have sustained multiple bruises and a laceration to her head, a broken nose and black eyes.

She had also fractured a rib and two of her fingers, which required surgery

The day before Leo’s murder, the boy attacked a 72-year-old, leaving her bleeding ‘profusely’ from a head wound.

Ms Brand said: ‘He, on his bicycle, approached her from behind and either pushed or struck her with an object on the left side of her back.

‘Before leaving the area, he said “I’m sorry”.’

The woman lost consciousness after being found on the ground by a passer-by. She suffered broken ribs in the attack and had to have hip replacement surgery.

Within half an hour of the killing, he attacked a 79-year-old woman, who ‘screamed’ when he pushed her down.

Ms Brand said: ‘She was walking alone in the park on the afternoon of Tuesday January 21 last year at about 3pm in the afternoon.

‘(The defendant) walked closely behind her, in fact she spoke to him – she asked him “do you want me to move aside?”’.

‘(The boy) forcefully pushed her from behind. It caused her to fall forward onto her hands and knees.’

The court heard that the only injuries to the elderly woman were soreness and muscle strain, but she was ‘shocked and alarmed’ about what happened to her.

Ms Brand said the boy ‘turned and smiled’ at the woman after the attack.

Defending, Alistair Webster KC said it was impossible to give a reason why the 15-year-old had decided to kill Leo and attack vulnerable elderly women.

He said: ‘The effect upon family, friends, is long-standing and significant and I want to make it clear nothing we will say should be seen as suggesting any of his victims were inviting what he did to them.

‘(Leo’s) mum and others want to know what lay behind the killing of Leo. It is, in reality, impossible to give a logical reason.’

He added: ‘His behaviour has been an appalling shock to his own family and left them, in turn, in torment.

‘Many lives have been seriously adversely affected and of course, Leo’s life was taken from him. He will, reflecting the serious nature of the offending, have to be detained for life.’

After applications from the media, Mr Justice Choudhury said, in his view, the killer should be named because of the public interest in the case.

After allowing defence barrister Alistair Webster KC some time to consider the ruling, the judge said the teenager can be identified in reporting from 1pm on February 11 to allow time for a possible appeal of the decision.

The judge said: ‘The defendant has pleaded guilty and falls to be sentenced for very serious crimes, including murder – the most serious of all.’

The judge said the public would want to know ‘what could have led a child to commit such acts’.

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