Police Face Intense Scrutiny Over Failure to Stop Teen Killer Before Murder
Serious questions are being directed at West Midlands Police regarding why the killer of 12-year-old Leo Ross remained free to commit a fatal stabbing, following months of violent behaviour in his local neighbourhood. The 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded guilty to the schoolboy's murder as well as a series of shocking attacks in the same Birmingham park.
Chilling Footage Reveals Killer's Deception
Disturbing police bodyworn camera footage, released after his conviction, shows the boy posing as an innocent bystander while paramedics desperately tried to save Leo's life just feet away. He can be heard casually lying to an officer: 'He was lay there like that when I got here...I didn't touch him because that could put me in the case.'
Leo died from a single stab wound to the stomach after being ambushed while walking home from school on January 21 last year. Tragically, he was the fourth victim his attacker had targeted within just three days. A model schoolboy with no known enemies, it is believed Leo was singled out by his 'much physically bigger' assailant simply because he presented 'an easy target'.
History of Violence and Police Knowledge
The Daily Mail has revealed that the killer had established a reputation for violent delinquency in Birmingham's Hall Green area where he lived - and was well known to local police. He is understood to have been expelled from mainstream education and even a specialist pupil referral unit after breaking a teacher's nose and bringing a knife into class.
His expulsion meant he routinely spent his days roaming his neighbourhood - usually on a bicycle or scooter - causing trouble and vandalising property. Exclusive footage obtained by the Daily Mail captured the moment he threw a brick through a shop window near his home approximately six months before the killing, in a random act of vandalism that alarmed staff inside.
Escalating Violence in Trittiford Mill Park
Family friends have told the Mail they believe the teenager first began to spiral out of control following his father's arrest on suspicion of rape allegations. The situation escalated dramatically on January 19 last year when his taste for wanton lawlessness transformed into something genuinely dangerous.
An elderly woman walking alone along the banks of the River Cole in Trittiford Mill Park was subjected to an unprovoked, vicious assault. Her teenage assailant beat her with her own walking stick, inflicting serious injuries, before pushing her into the river. Employing a 'really sinister' tactic he would later repeat, the boy then pretended to be a witness and ran to alert another passerby about the assault.
The following day he returned to the park and attacked another woman walking alone, again leaving her seriously injured. This time he fled the scene. By now, officers had a description of a suspect, according to Det Insp Joe Davenport of West Midlands Police: 'A boy, about 14 years old, all black clothing, riding a bike, attacking vulnerable people in a small area of Trittiford Mill Park.'
Missed Opportunities and Police Response
Despite the description clearly matching the boy claiming to be a bystander - and that very boy already being known to police - he was not arrested. To those familiar with the killer's family, this represented a clear missed opportunity.
A family friend told the Mail: 'Modern policing is wrong at the end of the day. They could have saved that lad by putting him in a cage. If they'd dealt with him properly in the first place with the assaults, it wouldn't have happened. He was thinking "I'm going to do it again and until I kill someone you're not going to do anything".'
The boy was described as a 'loner' whose aggression meant nobody wanted to socialise with him. The family friend reported seeing the boy just hours before Leo was killed, spotting him 'walking up the road, talking to himself, shouting to himself, saying to himself what he was going to do and stuff like that'.
The Fatal Attack and Aftermath
CCTV footage captured the boy shortly afterwards as he set out to launch further attacks in the park. Once again, he was riding a bicycle and dressed entirely in black with a hood pulled over his head. His attention first settled on another lone woman walking in the park, but he was forced to flee when his assault was interrupted.
The boy did not flee far, however, with CCTV showing him simply looping around the park looking for his next victim. At around this time, Leo had begun his walk home from Christ Church of England Secondary Academy School, which tragically took him straight through the centre of the park.
Leo was caught on camera for the final time moments earlier, wearing his school uniform with his coat hood turned up against the cold. While precisely what happened next remains unclear, police are confident Leo would have done nothing to provoke the terrible fate that befell him.
Det Insp Davenport said Leo was a 'model student' with a perfect behaviour record at school, while his family insisted he did not have 'one aggressive bone in his body'. The only clue to what unfolded lay in the injuries - a single stab wound, with no further injuries found on either Leo or his attacker, suggesting a quick, ruthless assault.
Continued Deception and Arrest
After inflicting the fatal wound with a kitchen knife, his killer once again began the charade of an innocent bystander and rushed to get the attention of a woman nearby. He then brazenly remained at the scene until emergency services arrived and began CPR on Leo.
Seemingly without concern, he was recorded on bodyworn camera telling an officer he had been cycling to a mechanic's shop when he saw Leo lying stricken on the ground. Within three hours, he had been arrested when dozens of police officers stormed his home.
A witness said: 'When (he) was in the back of the van, there were at least 10 officers in there with him. He doesn't care. He doesn't give a s***. He'll call the coppers d***heads and he'll tell them to f*** off. He's got no fear.'
His arrogance had not deserted him by this stage, with Det Insp Davenport confirming the boy taunted officers - boasting that they would not find any evidence to pin the crime on him. He was wrong. In the river, police divers found the murder weapon - from which investigators recovered both his DNA and Leo's DNA.
Systemic Failures and Ongoing Review
West Midlands Police are now under intense scrutiny for their failure to take the teenage killer off the streets sooner. It has emerged the boy was the suspect in a string of attacks which pre-dated the killing by months - a total of four assaults, including two on police officers, between October and December 2024 - but he was only charged after being arrested for Leo's murder.
The Mail has been told he was known for fighting with other boys in the park and had been brought back to his address repeatedly by police after running away from home. A few weeks before the killing, a neighbour had seen the boy running onto their road out of breath, claiming he was being chased by police after stealing someone's tobacco pouch.
The shopkeeper who had the brick thrown through his window 'for no reason' said he had not reported the matter to police because 'he didn't manage to break anything' - but added the boy had a real reputation locally for causing trouble.
Conflicting Perspectives and Family Anguish
Det Insp Davenport rejected criticism of the force, telling the Mail: 'There's two different elements. With the previous assaults and those investigations, owing to his age and his lack of previous criminal history, it's not like he was ever going to have gone to prison as a result of those cases. The other side is the investigations into the assaults on January 19 and January 20 - on each occasion we were just given a description and the assaults happened so quickly after each other. He wasn't known to the police in terms of fingerprints or DNA and it would take longer to do CCTV inquiries to eventually figure out who this person was. That can be a slow process. Unfortunately, it wasn't quick enough to identify him and stop what happened to Leo.'
Police have confirmed a child safeguarding practice review is currently examining the circumstances of the case. For one friend of the killer's family, who asked not to be named, the boy they once knew as a 'lovely lad' had been warped into a violent criminal by a troubled home life which allegedly saw him beaten by his father.
They said: 'I don't think he's a bad lad, I think he's been raised in a bad environment. There was quite a lot of abuse in that household from dad to son. Personally, I think this was all his way of getting out of the house.'
Family Tributes to a Life Cut Short
For Leo's family, the pain is only deepened by the senseless manner of his death. Following the verdicts, Leo's heartbroken birth mother Rachel Fisher said: 'My son Leo was the sweetest, most kind-hearted boy. He didn't have a bad bone in his body. My baby's life was stolen for no reason what so ever. My life will never be the same again without him. He will be loved and missed forever.'
Leo's foster family, the Westons, added: 'Not a day goes by where we don't think about Leo. His loss has impacted us deeply and his absence is felt constantly. Leo was 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. He was wise beyond his years, full of knowledge and facts, full of life. A life cut short by a senseless act. We hope justice is served and we can get some closure, whatever the outcome, it still does not give Leo his life back, the life he truly deserved to live to its fullest.'
