Mum of stabbing spree victim criticises ‘massive’ failings in new report
The mum of a man who was stabbed to death by a mentally-ill knifeman on a rampage has slammed ‘astonishing failings’ by ‘multiple agencies’.
Jacob Billington, 23, was fatally wounded in September 2020 by paranoid schizophrenic Zephaniah McLeod, who stabbed seven others in 90 minutes in Birmingham.
McLeod, then aged 27, had been released from HMP Parc in South Wales after serving a three year sentence for drug and firearm offences just five months before the attack.
But a report has found he was not subject to any restrictions, had a pattern of ‘non-engagement’, and was released with no fixed abode – meaning services did not where he had gone.
Mr Billington’s mother, Joanne Billington, said in her statement that she had been ‘left utterly heartbroken’ by his killing and ‘the subsequent discoveries about how much the different agencies knew about this man’.
The inquiry report found there were four missed opportunities to better understand McLeod’s mental health and ‘allow for a planned release’ from prison.
Calling the report ‘very weak’, Ms Billington said: ‘Now we finally have [the report], it catalogues a massive amount of astonishing failings and incompetence. It speaks to a terrifying lack of concern, or even interest in how dangerous this man was.
‘Few people checked, few kept adequate records or assessed his risk effectively, or even at all. We are told about “missed opportunities”.
‘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.’
She added their appeared to be ‘no consequences’ for the agencies involved, and said she is ‘not satisfied in any way the failings will not continue to happen’.
‘All the agencies knew about the offender, they knew he was dangerous and violent, that he didn’t comply with medication, and he had made multiple threats to hurt people.
‘In the end, he carried out those threats. Eight innocent people have had their lives changed forever.
‘I will never see what Jacob would have become. He died due to a catalogue of errors and poor practice, and this I simply can’t forgive.’
McLeod was sentenced to life after admitting the manslaughter of Mr Billington, four counts of attempted murder and three charges of wounding.
In his statement to the review, Keith Billington, Jacob’s father, added that his son ‘was much loved, much wanted, and now – much missed’ but had come ‘face to face with evil’ on the night he was killed.
‘He worked hard and he played hard,’ Mr Billington said. ‘He was on the cusp of the next phase of his life when he would take everything he had learnt; the skills, the experience, the friendships and networks to build a great life for himself and his future family.’
Mr Billington’s life-long friend, Michael Callaghan, received life-changing injuries in the attack, with his mum, Anne Callaghan saying he had ‘lost his livelihood’.
She said: ‘My son can no longer play his guitar, banjo or piano two-handed, have a game of football or tennis with his friends, go running, hike, or drive. He has lost his livelihood.
‘The thought that individuals took highly risky decisions that resulted in a clearly dangerous man being released unsupervised, with no known whereabouts, is almost impossible to bear.
‘I believe this incident was clearly predictable and preventable. It has devastated the lives of eight people and all those who care for them; Jacob and Michael are seemingly tolerable statistics to those who resource the system.’
The investigation made five recommendations to improve services, including a call for the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust to develop an up-to-date operational policy covering prison discharge services.
It also recommended that the West Midlands MAPPA Strategic Management Board reconsider its decision not to complete a serious case review, which the report’s authors said would be an opportunity to look in more detail at the issues it had raised.
Among other recommendations was a call to ensure the mental health in-reach team at HMP Parc has sufficient resources to meet demand.
A spokesperson for Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust said: ‘We would like to publicly express our sincere sympathies to the families and friends of Jacob and Michael.
‘Our chief executive and interim chief nurse met with Jo Billington and Anne Callaghan and were deeply saddened to see the terrible impact that this tragedy has had on them and their families’ lives.
‘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.’
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