Kian Moulton, pictured, stabbed Leo Ross in Yardley Wood. Photo / West Midlands Police, PA
A teenager who stabbed a 12-year-old schoolboy to death has been named and pictured for the first time.
Kian Moulton, 15, stabbed Leo Ross in the stomach in Yardley Wood, in the Hall Green area of Birmingham, in a “totally random attack” as he walked home from school.
After his sentencing at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday, Justice Choudhury lifted reporting restrictions meaning that Kian, who is now 15, can be named.
Defendants under 18 are granted automatic anonymity and their identity can only be revealed if a judge deems it to be in the public interest.
On January 21 last year, after killing Leo, Kian hung around at the scene and spoke to officers, falsely claiming he had stumbled across Leo lying hurt on the ground.
Footage from police body-worn video showed him saying he had not touched the victim.
While paramedics treated Leo, who died in hospital, his killer – who was not known to him – claimed he had been riding past on a bike and had made efforts to call for help.
Kian has admitted murdering Leo, as well as two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to previous random attacks on women in the area.
He was given a life sentence, but was told he would be eligible for parole after 13 years and would remain on licence for life.
Detective Inspector Joe Davenport said there was no indication Leo and his killer knew each other, so it had been a “totally random attack”.
Explaining his reasons for naming Kian, the judge said: “This is a matter of substantial public interest.
“Knife crime, particularly amongst youths, is a matter of grave concern. This was an unusual and disturbing pattern of escalating violence against random strangers.”
The judge said the public would want to know “what could have led a child to commit such acts”.
Addressing the safety of Kian in the young offenders’ institute in which he was being held, 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 already knew the defendant’s identity, which had “not resulted in any attacks” on him.
Alistair Webster KC, representing Kian, argued that he was a disturbed young man and there were concerns about his mental health.
He said there were also concerns for his client’s family, who had already been forced to leave the area.
Neighbours who knew Kian said that he had a troubled family life and claimed police regularly visited his home in Yardley Wood.
He is understood to have been excluded from mainstream education and even a specialist pupil referral unit after breaking a teacher’s nose and bringing a knife into class.
Kian had a reputation for violence in the area before the killing and was known to police.
CCTV footage shared with The Telegraph showed Kian hurling a brick on July 25, 2024 through a newsagent’s window – a seven-minute walk away from his home.
The shopkeeper said: “He took the bricks and banged them through the window ... we checked the camera and he just randomly threw it.”
“He is a naughty boy,” the shopkeeper said, adding that Kian would regularly be seen cycling on his own around the area.
In the days before the killing, the teenager carried out attacks on elderly women in the Hall Green area.
On January 19, two days before the killing, Kian assaulted an elderly woman, pushing her from behind into a ditch next to a river.
He told the woman: “I tried to drown you. But now I’m going to kill you instead”, before striking her several times with her own walking pole.
The day before the killing, Kian pushed a 72-year-old woman to the ground. She suffered broken ribs in the attack and had to have hip replacement surgery.
Half an hour before he fatally stabbed Leo, the teenager attacked a 79-year-old woman as she walked alone in a park. He pushed her to the ground before walking away, smiling.
Outside court after her son’s killer was sentenced, Rachel Fisher said: “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 local authority and the police have got a lot to answer for.”
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