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The father of a 12-year-old student who was fatally stabbed on his way home has demanded an apology from the police after his killer displayed a “disturbing pattern of escalating violence”.
Christopher Ross, 39, said West Midlands Police had “multiple opportunities” to arrest “cowardly” Kian Moulton, now aged 15, who knifed Leo Ross in the stomach on January 21, 2025, because he was a small target. The killer was pictured and named on Thursday after a judge lifted his anonymity.
He was given a life sentence, but will be eligible for parole in 13 years. The random knife attack in Birmingham on the afternoon of January 21 came after the killer tried to drown an 82-year-old woman and attacked two other victims in the days leading up to the murder.
Mr Ross told The Express: “100% he was let down by the authorities.
“Maybe after the first assault, definitely after the second, let alone the third assault, and then the murder, do you know what I mean?”
He added: “I don’t know how they didn’t see he was there and got him sooner… I really don’t understand it.”
Mr Ross said he will keep fighting and try to find out why his son’s murderer was not caught earlier.
After murdering Leo, Moulton cycled around Trittiford Mill Park telling people a boy had been stabbed, and pretended that he had found his body when police arrived.
The court heard that he told one of his elderly victims on January 19: "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.
Mr Justice Choudhury said Moulton had shown an "unusual and disturbing pattern of escalating violence against strangers", and it was clear he was a "disturbed young man who continues to cause concern".
Mr Ross also insisted that phones should be banned and more knife arches need to be installed in schools, and children need more protection on routes to and from where they live.
Teachers, he added, “haven’t got a clue”.
Mr Ross feels guilty that he was not able to walk his son home, as he was in foster care.
“In that area, I think there should be some sort of more patrols around there and stuff like that, to stop all the crime going on,” he said.
On knife crime amongst young boys, Mr Ross thinks “boredom” plays a part.
“They haven’t got nothing to do, I suppose, around there.”
This view is shared by Caroline Willgoose, the mother of Harvey Willgoose, who was stabbed to death at school in Sheffield in February, 2025. The bereaved mother mentioned that police should have done more in Harvey’s case, highlighting how an axe was found in his killer Umar Khan’s bag.
Ms Willgoose said: “If they’d looked at his phone, they’d have realised he’d got an unhealthy interest in weapons, and could have tried to give him some counselling or take him down another road.”
She added: “There’s not enough things for children…places for children to go and learn and socialise.
“They’ve lost all that socialising.”
Ms Willgoose thinks the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this, as young people were “locked up for two years” and resorted to playing video games “24/7”.
“They were not out in the real world, and we wonder why they’ve gone a bit crazy.”
She does not advocate a full barring of phones, but she does want to see Snapchat banned.
Ms Willgoose called Leo’s case “shocking”, and thinks Moulton’s sentence was too lenient.
“I’d be gutted,” she said.
“It’s just so sad… I feel for the parents.”
Mr Ross said Leo was “gentle and kind”.
“He got on with everyone,” he added.
“He just liked staying in, playing his PS5, looking at rocks and gems, nature, anything like that.
“He loved his school, he loved doing his homework and all that.
“He was the opposite to me. Absolute opposite to me.”
Leo was going to go on to do “something special” with his life, his father said.
Ms Willgoose and Mr Ross are working with Courtney Barrett, the founder of the “Binning Knives Saves Lives” campaign.
He and members of bereaved families are delivering emergency kits that contain tourniquets, haemostatic gauze and chest seals.
Mr Barrett said the group is being “ignored” by ministers for five years.
He added: “Many children like Leo Ross and Harvey Willgoose are dead because of our Government’s negligence in making sure school children are as safe as possible.
"Bleed control kits should be mandatory in schools, just like first aid kits are.”
“Instead of having them in every school, we have to wait up to 15 minutes for an ambulance to bring a bleed kit to a stab victim, by which time they've always bled out and died,” Mr Barrett said.
It is understood that the Metropolitan Police Service supports charities and local partners distributing blood kits, even though their effectiveness has not been tested.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, David Lammy, said on Thursday: “Every life lost to knife crime is an unmitigated tragedy.
“With Labour’s plan, any child caught carrying a knife will be given a mandatory, targeted intervention to stop them falling into a cycle of reoffending.
“This government is committed to our pledge to halve knife crime.”
A spokesperson for the Home Office previously told The Express: “Too many young lives are lost each year to knife crime. This government is determined to halve knife crime within a decade.
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“We are pursuing this mission relentlessly, and already knife crime has fallen by 9% under this government."
West Midlands Police has been approached for comment.