A teenager has pleaded guilty to murdering 12-year-old Leo Ross in Birmingham last year.
Leo Ross was thought to have been coming home from his school in Hall Green, Birmingham when he was attacked.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, entered his plea today at Birmingham Crown Court.
Leo was described in a family statement released shortly after his death as an “amazing, kind, loving” boy.
The youth, who was 14 at the time of the killing and is now 15, also admitted two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to previous attacks on separate victims, as well as having a bladed article on the day he killed Leo.
He denied assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assault by beating in relation to two other people and those charges were ordered to lie on file.
Subsequent police inquiries established that the knife used to kill him was thrown into a nearby river, while the youth responsible, riding a bike, had previously hunted down and attacked several women in local parkland.
An inquiry by West Midlands Police also found that the killer opted to hang around to talk to officers at the murder scene, falsely claiming he had stumbled across Leo lying fatally injured beside the River Cole.
12-year-old Leo Ross was stabbed in the stomach while walking from school in the Hall Green area of Birmingham
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WEST MIDLANDS POLICEIt also emerged that Leo had no connection with his attacker and was subjected to what senior officers believe was a completely random and unprovoked stabbing.
Bodycam footage was played to Birmingham Crown Court today showing the moment the killer posed as a Good Samaritan after claiming he found dying Leo Ross and raised the alarm.
The defendant’s guilty pleas were entered more than six months after a trial was postponed to allow psychiatric experts to assess the defendant.
Judge Paul Farrer KC said sentencing would be set for February 10 and would likely last the full day.
Today’s hearing took place at Birmingham Crown Court
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GOOGLE MAPSJudge Farrer told the defendant: “I can’t sentence you today for a number of reasons.
“You will be sentenced on the 10th of February and you will be brought from wherever you are being kept to Birmingham where you can speak to your lawyers.
“In the meantime you are remanded into youth detention.”