Teenager who murdered schoolboy Leo Ross, 12, in random attack detained for minimum of 13 years - as victim's mum slams sentence as 'utter joke'
Leo, described in a family statement as an “amazing, kind, loving” boy, was walking home from school when he was stabbed.
The 15-year-old boy who murdered schoolboy Leo Ross with a knife as he walked through a park and attacked elderly women in the previous days has been detained for a minimum of 13 years at Birmingham Crown Court.
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Leo Ross suffered fatal injuries after he was stabbed in the stomach on a riverside path in the Hall Green area of Birmingham in 2025.
The 15-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, previously pleaded guilty to murder in Birmingham Crown Court.
The youth, who was 14 at the time of the killing and is now 15, also admitted two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to previous attacks on separate victims, as well as having a bladed article on the day he killed Leo.
In a victim impact statement, Leo's mother Rachel Fisher said her son was “truly the most kind, funny and caring little boy”.
Speaking from the witness box, Ms Fisher 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.
The defendant looked down at the floor as Ms Fisher sobbed.
She said: “He was just an innocent little boy whose life was taken before he even became a teenager. He was only 12 years old.
“He was my first-born child. I love Leo more than life itself. My life will never be the same again."
She continued: “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."
Speaking outside Birmingham Crown Court after the sentencing of her son’s killer, Ms Fisher said the term imposed is a “joke”.
She said: “It’s a joke. Thirteen years is a complete and utter joke, and it’s just going to keep on happening and keep on happening until something’s done about it.
“These kids aren’t scared. They aren’t scared of the sentence. They’re not worried.
“The local authority and the police have got a lot to answer for.”
Ms Fisher said she fears that more children will be killed by knives, adding: “They’re going to keep on doing it. This country is an absolute joke.”
Subsequent police inquiries established that the knife used to kill Leo was thrown into a nearby river, while the youth responsible, riding a bike, had previously hunted down and attacked several women in local parkland.
An inquiry by West Midlands Police also found 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.
It also emerged that Leo had no connection with his attacker and was subjected to what senior officers believe was a completely random and unprovoked stabbing.
The defendant's guilty pleas were entered more than six months after a trial was postponed to allow psychiatric experts to assess him.
In mitigation, the defendant’s counsel 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.”