Killer who stabbed eight at random in knife rampage sentenced to life
A man who stabbed people at random, killing one and seriously injuring seven others, has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years.
Zephaniah McLeod carried out the series of attacks in the early hours of 6 September last year, as people were enjoying a night out in Birmingham City Centre.
CCTV and dashcam footage captured him walking calmly through the streets, stabbing people, then moving on.
McLeod pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, as well as four charges of attempted murder and three charges of wounding with intent.
He was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court.
McLeod carried out the series of attacks in the early hours of 6 September 2020
After the first three stabbings, he disposed of his knife down a drain, took a taxi to his home in Selly Oak, four miles away, where he re-armed himself and headed back to the city centre.
It was then that he came across Jacob Billington, 23, from Liverpool, and his friend Michael Callaghan.
They were part of a group of seven friends returning to their hotel after a night out.
McLeod asked the group if they had a lighter before attacking Mr Billington and Mr Callaghan.
Mr Billington was stabbed through the neck. He was rushed to hospital but pronounced dead at 2.57am.
Jacob Billington was killed in the attack
His mother, Jo, had last seen her son as he left to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
“I can still see him leaving the house with the lads in the car outside beeping the horns getting him to hurry up, and he skipped out, and we just thought he was going for a lovely night out with his friends,” she recalled.
She was woken in the early hours by police knocking on the door to tell her that her son had been killed.
“It was absolutely awful. You feel like you had all the breath sucked out of you is the best way to describe it,” she said.
She then had to wake his sisters to tell them.
Abbie and Jo Billington describe the night Jacob was killed
Abbie Billington, 22, remembered the moment she found out her brother was dead.
“There are just no words to describe the sadness that I felt,” she said.
Mr Callaghan had suffered catastrophic injures.
McLeod’s knife had severed his jugular vein and carotid artery. He lost so much blood he had a stroke.
Michael Callaghan pictured before the attack
His mother, Anne Callaghan, was woken by a call from the hospital.
“We were called in the morning about 5.30am by a nurse to say that he was in theatre, and he was stable, and obviously that was terrible to hear.
“We didn’t know what she was talking about, and I said, ‘what’s happened?’ She said, ‘he’s been stabbed’. I couldn’t grasp it at all.”
They travelled to Birmingham and were told that if he survived, he would have life-changing injuries.
It was 10 days before they were confident he would make it.
Michael suffered catastrophic injures in the attack
Before the stabbing, Mr Callaghan and Mr Billington were in a band. They both loved music, and the former enjoyed sport too. But over the last 14 months, he has had to relearn to walk and still can’t use his left hand.
His mother said life is difficult for her son, who is mourning the loss of his best friend.
“Michael is just devastated at the loss of Jacob,” she said. “They were totally on the same wavelength, and you know he misses him every day.”
The court heard McLeod had been suffering with paranoid schizophrenia since 2012 and these were not his first offences.
He had previous convictions for robbery, escaping from lawful custody, possession of a firearm in a public place and possession of class A drugs.
He had spoken to a psychiatrist on the phone on 3 September, days before the attack.
McLeod puts one knife down a drain. Pic: West Midlands Police
“On release from prison in April 2020, we were unable to make contact with him as we were not informed of his whereabouts. I spoke to Zephaniah briefly on the phone whilst he was with his Care Coordinator…” Dr Ezzine Onuba, the psychiatrist, wrote in a statement to the court.
“Zephaniah continues to hear voices which he told me is there all the time and can be distressing.
“It was difficult to do a full assessment. He was due to be seen face to face on 24 September 2020.”
Superintendent Jim Munro from West Midlands Police told Sky News: “He wasn’t under any license conditions and actively being managed, so he’d come back out having served his sentence.”
Mrs Callaghan believes he should never be released.
“All I want is for him to be off the streets because I don’t think he can be ever trusted again,” she said.
“He’s not answered any questions, he’s not talked about it, we don’t know anything about why he did what he did. How can anybody say he’s safe again? I don’t think anybody can.”
McLeod arrested by armed officers. Pic: West Midlands Police
Mr Billington’s mother says she believes mistakes have been made by the authorities and hopes a serious case review under way looking into the agencies that were aware of McLeod will provide answers.
“For me, there’s quite a lot of unanswered questions about what happened on that night,” she said. “And what led up to that night in terms of… this was somebody well known to lots of different agencies in many different sectors, and yet still it appears that he was in a position where he did this.
“The fact that he didn’t appear to have been monitored in the way that you would imagine he would.
“As somebody who was known to be dangerous and had a long previous history of being dangerous, had a known mental health condition, none of which seems to have been taken into account at all in terms of how he was monitored.”
Storm Bram has been named by the Irish weather service – with warnings for strong winds and heavy rain issued for parts of the UK and Ireland.
More than half a month’s rainfall could hit some parts of the UK in just a 24-hour period, the Met Office has warned.
Yellow and orange warnings are in place across Ireland today and tomorrow, with “very strong to gale force” winds forecast on Tuesday.
Check the weather forecast where you are
The Met Office said strong winds forecast from Monday evening through until Wednesday could cause disruption, with gusts of 50-60mph predicted widely and 70-80mph in some places.
A yellow weather warning for rain comes into effect from 6pm on Monday, and will be in place for 24 hours, covering parts of southwest England and Wales, and stretching to parts of Herefordshire and Hampshire.
The Met Office has also issued a yellow warning for high winds from Dorset to Cornwall and up to north Wales, in place from 10pm on Monday until 4pm on Tuesday.
It said transport networks could face disruption, with delays for high-sided vehicles on exposed routes and bridges, and coastal roads and seafronts affected by spray and large waves. Power outages are also possible.
For 24 hours from 6pm on Monday, up to 40mm of rain could fall in some areas, with 60-80mm of rain over Dartmoor and high ground in South Wales, which would amount to more than half the average monthly rainfall in December.
The predicted rainfall across southwest England and South Wales is expected to hit already saturated ground and could lead to difficult travel conditions.
An amber warning for wind has been issued for northwest Scotland on Tuesday.
Flying debris “could result in a danger to life” – and there could be damage to buildings and homes along with the risk of roofs being “blown off” due to the “very strong and disruptive winds”, the Met Office warned.
Forecasters added there was the potential for large waves and beach material “being thrown” across sea fronts, roads and properties.
There are also yellow warnings for wind and rain on Tuesday across Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and northern and southwest England.
Weather warnings issued for Tuesday. Pic: Met Office
Yellow warnings for wind have been issued for Scotland and parts of northern England on Wednesday.
The Met Office’s deputy chief meteorologist, Steven Keates, said: “A deepening area of low pressure will approach the UK from the southwest later on Monday, bringing with it heavy rain and strong winds, which are likely to affect the UK between late Monday and early Wednesday.
“The exact track, depth and timings of this low are uncertain, which makes it harder to determine where will be most impacted by strong winds and/or heavy rain.
“This system has the potential to cause disruption, and severe weather warnings are likely to be issued over the weekend as details become clearer. We therefore urge people to keep up-to-date with the latest Met Office forecast.”
The Met Office said the rest of the month remained unsettled, with further periods of low pressure predicted.
It also said it is too early to provide an accurate forecast for the Christmas period.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is heading to Downing Street once again, but Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will be keen to make this meeting more than just a photo op.
On Monday the prime minister will welcome not only the Ukrainian president, but also E3 allies France and Germany to discuss the state of the war in Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will join Sir Keir in showing solidarity and support for Ukraine and its leader, but it’s the update on the peace negotiations that will be the main focus of the meet up.
The four leaders are said to be set to not only discuss those talks between Ukraine, the US and Russia, but also to talk about next steps if a deal were to be reached and what that might look like.
Ahead of the discussions, Sir Keir spoke with the Dutch leader Dick Schoof where both leaders agreed Ukraine’s defence still needs international support, and that Ukraine’s security is vital to European security.
But while Russia’s war machine shows no signs of abating, a warm welcome and kind words won’t be enough to satisfy the embattled Ukrainian president at a time when Russian drone and missile attacks continue to bombard Kyiv.
Keir Starmer welcoming Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Downing Street during a previous visit. Pic: AP
What is the latest in negotiations?
Over the weekend, Mr Zelenskyy said he had discussed “next steps” with US President Donald Trump’s advisers and was “determined to keep working in good faith”.
“The American representatives know the basic Ukrainian positions,” Mr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. “The conversation was constructive, although not easy.”
But on Sunday evening, ahead of an event at the Kennedy Center, President Trump said he was “disappointed” with Mr Zelenskyy, as was asked about the next steps in Russia-Ukraine talks following negotiations.
He said: “We’ve been speaking to President Putin and we’ve been speaking to Ukrainian leaders, including Zelenskyy, President Zelenskyy.
“And I have to say that I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelenskyy hasn’t yet read the proposal. That was as of a few hours ago.
“His people love it. But he hasn’t – Russia’s fine with it. Russia’s you know, Russia, I guess, would rather have the whole country when you think of it. But Russia is, I believe, fine with it, but I’m not sure that Zelenskyy’s fine with it. His people love it but he hasn’t read it.”
Read more:
Ukraine has become Europe’s war – so why doesn’t it act like it?
Inside a secret underground military base in eastern Ukraine
On Saturday, Keith Kellogg, Trump’s outgoing Ukraine envoy, had told the Reagan National Defence Forum that efforts to resolve the conflict were in “the last 10 metres”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov praised new US security strategy over the weekend, adding that Russia hopes this would lead to “further constructive cooperation with Washington on the Ukrainian settlement”.
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