Family of victim killed by Birmingham knifeman say they will ‘never recover’

For free actual time breaking information alerts despatched straight to your inbox signal as much as our breaking information emails

Sign as much as our free breaking information emails

The household of a college employee killed by a knifeman who carried out a number of stabbing assaults in Birmingham metropolis centre mentioned they will “never recover” from his dying.

Zephaniah McLeod, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, had solely been launched from jail for drug and firearm offences 5 months beforehand earlier than knifing eight individuals within the spree on 6 September 2020.

Joanne Billington advised an inquest her son, who was solely in Birmingham for one evening as he loved an evening out with buddies, didn’t should die in such a “monstrous” means.

She mentioned: “For us, Jacob’s death is something we will never recover from and has changed the lives of everyone who knew him.

“For his family, friends and colleagues he was a real person with a fantastic personality, loves, hopes and dreams. He wanted to be alive, he grabbed life with both hands and he was at a great point in his life.”

She added her son was a “genuinely lovely, funny, intelligent young man”, together with his dying leaving his family and friends scarred.

“He deserved to be safe walking down the street. All agencies involved need to remember him and the manner of his death throughout this process,” she mentioned.

Mr Billington, a Sheffield Hallam University librarian, was randomly attacked by McLeod, who was below no supervision plans on the time.

The 23-year-old suffered a deadly neck damage, whereas his good friend Michael Callaghan suffered life-changing accidents that positioned him in a coma for 2 months and led to him being paralysed down his left-hand facet. Six different individuals had been injured.

Ms Billington mentioned a number of authorities companies had proven “astonishing failings and incompetence” forward of the stabbing rampage.

Following the publication of a multi-agency evaluate, she had beforehand described the suggestions as “very weak” and mentioned: “There appear to be no consequences at all for the agencies involved, and I am not satisfied in any way the failings identified in this report will not continue to happen.

“All the agencies knew about the offender, they knew he was dangerous and violent, that he didn’t comply with medication, and he had made multiple threats to hurt people.

“In the end, he carried out those threats. Eight innocent people have had their lives changed forever.”

McLeod, who was 27 on the time of the assaults, was sentenced to life with a minimal time period of 21 years at Birmingham Crown Court in 2021, after admitting the manslaughter of Mr Billington, 4 counts of tried homicide, and three fees of wounding in relation to seven different individuals he slashed and stabbed within the metropolis centre that evening.

McLeod had a protracted historical past of offending which began in his teenage years, which included robberies, carrying a knife and threats of violence.

Prior to the assaults, he had not been appropriately handled or medicated for 9 years, and was launched from jail to no fastened abode, whereas providers “did not know where he had gone”.

As he was reluctant to take prescribed remedy and refused to interact with psychological well being providers in jail or the group, he had made no makes an attempt to deal with his psychological well being points.

A two-week inquest at Birmingham and Solihull Coroner’s Court into the dying of Mr Billington, a gifted musician from Crosby, Merseyside, is anticipated to take a look at McLeod’s offending historical past, time in jail and his psychological well being therapy throughout that point.

Senior coroner Louise Hunt will additionally study how info was shared when McLeod moved between prisons, how his use of remedy was monitored and the way his launch from jail was managed.