‘Cowardly’ killer, 15, who murdered Leo Ross in random attack is named

Police have pictured the “cowardly” 15-year-old killer who murdered Leo Ross in a random knife attack after trying to drown an 82-year-old woman and attacking two other elderly victims.

Kian Moulton can be identified as the perpetrator of what judge Mr Justice Choudhury called “horrific and shocking” attacks on vulnerable elderly women and 12-year-old Leo in a country park in Birmingham in January last year.

His “campaign of violence” saw him push three pensioners to the ground in separate attacks in Shire Country Park, Hall Green, before he fatally stabbed Leo, who was walking home from the Christ Church, Church of England Secondary Academy in Yardley Wood at the time, on the afternoon of January 21 2025.

Moulton, who lived less than half a mile away from the country park where he chose victims who were “least able to defend themselves”, showed no reaction in the dock at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday as Mr Justice Choudhury told him he would be detained for life with a minimum term of 13 years for Leo’s murder – a sentence that was branded a “joke” by Leo’s mother Rachel Fisher.

Speaking outside the court after Moulton’s sentencing, Ms Fisher told the Press Association: “Thirteen years is a complete and utter joke, and it’s just going to keep on happening and keep on happening until something’s done about it.

“These kids aren’t scared. They aren’t scared of the sentence. They’re not worried.”

The judge agreed to lift an order banning Moulton’s identification because of his age following applications from a number of media organisations, deciding it was in the public interest for him to be named.

Birmingham Children’s Trust sought an extension of 24 hours to a stay on reporting Moulton’s identity, but said its application had been refused.

The Trust said it intended to apply for a judicial review of the decision to name the teenager, but on Thursday afternoon it said it had not made that application.

It said would be participating in a local child safeguarding practice review along with other agencies to identify any learning and would not comment further until the review was published in the spring.

The judge said that naming Moulton as the killer would have some deterrent effect, saying: “Knife crime, particularly among youths, is of particular concern.”

The restriction ceased to have an effect on Wednesday afternoon after Birmingham Children’s Trust (BCT), who are responsible for Moulton’s care, were given 24 hours after the sentencing on Tuesday to decide whether to lodge an appeal against the judge’s decision.

Alistair Webster KC, defending Moulton, argued that identifying him as the perpetrator of what he called “shocking” crimes would pose a significant risk to his rehabilitation.

He told Moulton’s sentencing hearing that it was not “intellectually sustainable” to suggest that naming him publicly would act as a deterrent to other young people becoming involved in knife crime.

Mr Webster said: “These were shocking offences which have caused a great deal of sorrow and ongoing sense of loss for the families and victims involved.

“We recognise that the public and press will be very interested in how the court deals with the sentence, what the sentence is, but it is sometimes easy to confuse the public interest and the interest of the public.

“The court has a balancing act to carry out between the wider need for open justice and the statutory duties to the young defendant who has to be dealt with.”

Prosecution counsel Rachel Brand KC told the court the Crown was “neutral” on the issue of lifting reporting restrictions.

Ultimately, the judge decided it was in the public interest to identify Moulton, saying the public would want to know “what could have led a child to commit such acts”.

He said it was clear Moulton was a “disturbed young man who continues to cause concern”.

The judge added that the killer, who had chillingly told one of his elderly victims in an attack on January 19 last year: “I tried to drown you, but now I’m going to kill you”, after pushing her into a river and hitting her with her own walking stick, had shown an “unusual and disturbing pattern of escalating violence against strangers”.

On the issue of Moulton’s rehabilitation, Mr Justice Choudhury said his progress while in custody so far had been “scant” and that he had shown poor engagement, had refused to take part in therapy and had been involved in “serious acts of violence and destruction”.

He said: “There is little to inspire any real confidence that over the next two years (until he is 18), any substantial progress towards rehabilitation will be made.”

Addressing the safety of the defendant in the secure institution he is being detained in, Mr Justice Choudhury said: “Many of the incidents of violence recorded as involving the defendant over the last year while in detention have involved violence by him on others or on himself.”

He added that some of the other boys in the facility had already found out the defendant’s identity, which “has not resulted in any attacks” on him.

The judge said it was “regrettable” that naming Moulton would have an impact on his family, who have had to move house since he killed Leo, but said it was evidence that people were already aware of his identity.