You would hope that when your child is on their way to meet a friend at the park to hang out after school, they would be safe at the very least from other kids and teens in the area. Sadly, that very much was not the case for a boy in England. A fifteen-year-old has been convicted of the murder of 12-year-old Leo Ross, stabbing him in a random violent attack at a park. Investigators found a disturbing confessional handwritten note that depicted horrific details of the stabbing left in the bedroom of where the older teenager was living at the time.
The violent attack took place on January 21, 2025, in Birmingham, England, per The Guardian. Ross was making his way home from school that day through a local park when a 15-year-old boy, who cannot publicly be named because of his age, stabbed him in the stomach and left him there to die, per the news outlet.
According to the West Midlands Police Department, the 12-year-old victim was walking home from school and was speaking to a friend on the phone prior to the stabbing and suggested that they meet up near a certain tree in Trittiford Mill Park. Ross’ friend arrived safely at the meet-up spot that day, but tragically, Ross did not.
The prosecution told the court on February 10, 2026, that investigators found a handwritten note in the 15-year-old’s bedroom that read “I stabbed him, lower right stomach,” per People. Police said that the attacker “had been lingering around the park for several days” and “had assaulted a number of people” prior to stabbing Ross, per the magazine.
The Telegraph reported that the 15-year-old also attacked several elderly women and had even tried to drown an 82-year-old woman in the time leading up to Ross’ murder.
During the sentencing at Birmingham Crown Court, after the 15-year-old defendant had pleaded guilty, Justice Choudhury told the teen that he had “engaged in a campaign of serious violence against different people, culminating in the fatal stabbing of Leo,” per Sky News. The justice went on to tell the 15-year-old that “the devastation [he had] caused to so many lives is hard to comprehend.”
Alistair Webster, the teen’s defense lawyer, said the young man has “formidable mental health problems,” a history of hearing voices, been diagnosed with childhood conduct disorder and ADHD, and experienced suicidal thoughts, according to The Guardian.
Ross’ mother, Rachel Fisher, called the 13-year minimum sentence “a joke,” per The Guardian. The mom described her son as “the most beautiful little soul” and lamented the fact that he “will never get to have his first job, his first car, get married or have his own children.”
We cannot fathom the unimaginable loss Ross’ family and friends have experienced. Our thoughts are with them at this time.
