Teen admits murdering schoolboy, 12, on walk home
A 15-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to murdering 12-year-old Leo Ross as he walked home from school in Birmingham last year.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, entered his plea on Thursday at Birmingham Crown Court.
Leo was thought to have been making his way home from his school in Yardley Wood, Birmingham, when he was stabbed in the stomach on 21 January 2025.
At 12 years old, he is believed to be the youngest victim of knife crime in the West Midlands.
Members of the public came to help him as he lay on a riverside path in a park and called the emergency services but Leo died in hospital.
His family said he had been walking a 10-minute route home and police said he was speaking to a friend on the phone, arranging to meet near a certain tree in Trittiford Mill Park.
His friend turned up but Leo never did.
His foster family described him as "the sweetest, kindest boy who put others before himself."
"He was loved by all that knew him, he made friends with everyone he met, young or old," they added.
Leo's birth mother, Rachel Fisher, said her son "didn't have a bad bone in his body".
"My baby's life was stolen for no reason whatsoever, my life will never be the same again without him," she said.
The defendant, who was 14 at the time of the stabbing, also pleaded guilty to two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, over separate attacks on three elderly women.
Those victims were pushed to the ground, hit by him and suffered serious injuries, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
Detectives found the knife used in the stabbing had been thrown into a nearby river - the teenager pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article.
Investigators also discovered that the killer opted to hang around to talk to officers at the murder scene, falsely claiming he had stumbled across Leo lying fatally injured beside the River Cole.
Leo had no connection to his attacker, police believe, and he was subjected to what senior officers described as a completely random and unprovoked stabbing.
The boy showed no remorse and gave no explanation during his interview, only saying "no comment" when asked about Leo's murder and the earlier assaults, police said.
The defendant's guilty pleas were entered more than six months after a trial was postponed to allow psychiatric experts to assess the defendant.
Judge Paul Farrer KC said sentencing would be set for 10 February and, in the meantime, the 15-year-old would be remanded into youth detention.
Leo was a pupil at Christ Church C of E Secondary Academy and Tim Boyes, their acting head at the time of the stabbing, said his death had a huge impact on staff and pupils.
He recalled the moment the school got a call to say a student had been stabbed.
"I jumped in the car and was at the scene whilst paramedics and police were just beginning to deal with the horrible crisis," he said.
Boyes said he remembered Leo as "a quirky, lovable, bright, unusual little boy".
"For a 12-year-old, he was quite young and he had a naivety and simplicity," he said.
Boyes said unlike many boys his age who were into football, Leo was "passionate about fossils".
Flowers were left at the scene of the stabbing along with written messages which included saying Leo was "loved by many people" and "our lives won't be the same without you".
Speaking after Thursday's hearing, Jonathan Roe, from the CPS, called the stabbing a "senseless act of violence" that "robbed a 12-year-old boy of his life".
Det Insp Joe Davenport thanked members of the community who tried to save Leo's life.
"This was a heartbreaking and senseless attack on a young boy who was completely innocent," he said.
At the hearing, the teenager also denied charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on 22 October 2024 and assault by beating on 29 December 2024 in relation to two more victims and those charges were ordered to lie on file.
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