Inquest begins into death of Birmingham knife rampage victim
23-year-old Jacob Billington from Merseyside was fatally stabbed by a paranoid schizophrenic in September 2020.
Last updated 26th Feb 2024
An inquest has started today (26 February) into the death of a young man who was killed in a series of brutal knife attacks in Birmingham city centre.
23-year-old Jacob Billington from Merseyside "bled to death in the street" after being fatally wounded in the neck by paranoid schizophrenic Zephaniah McLeod on 6 September 2020. He also attacked and injured seven others.
McLeod, from Selly Oak, admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
He was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 21 years in 2021, for the manslaughter of Mr Billington, four counts of attempted murder and three charges of wounding.
The inquest will determine by what means and in what circumstances Mr Billington, a Sheffield Hallam university worker, died.
The hearing at Birmingham Coroner's Court, scheduled to last for three weeks, is expected to hear evidence from representatives from the NHS, mental health bosses and the heads of various prisons previously attended by McLeod.
Major incident
The series of attacks on 6 September 2020 in Birmingham city centre prompted a major incident to be declared by emergency services.
Mr McLeod was arrested 24 hours later.
During court proceedings, it was revealed McLeod, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, missed a psychiatric assessment appointment four days before he went of the rampage.
The court also heard he had been out of contact with health services since being released from prison that April.
Damning report
An independent investigation into the supervision of McLeod, commissioned by the NHS, said he was released from HMP Parc in south Wales "with no planned contact with statutory services" five months before the attacks.
The inquiry report, published in July last year, found there were four missed opportunities to better understand McLeod’s mental health and "allow for a planned release" from prison.
Jacob's mother, Joanne Billington, described the findings as a catalogue of "astonishing failings and incompetence".
"Few people checked, few kept adequate records or assessed his risk effectively, or even at all. We are told about 'missed opportunities'", she said.
"These are not missed opportunities, these are people not doing their job, these are procedures not being followed and a catastrophic lack of professional standards, leading to a young man losing his life."
Following the report, a spokesperson for Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust said: "As an organisation, we fully accept the recommendation in the report for us to review the service description of our discharge service.
"We have commissioned a comprehensive review and will update the service description accordingly, to help ensure a similar incident does not occur."