Original subtitles

West Midlands Police.

There's a young lad in school uniform.

I would say he's about 12 and he has been stabbed in the stomach.

Is he breathing in and out normally?

Very laboured.

I have confirmed that we've got the police on route.

Come on, open your eyes. I'm here. Open your eyes. Oh, well done.

All right, just stay with us.

Mike 2, 6, 8, they're stabbing.

Rambo here also.

Officers from West Midlands Police are responding to a serious incident after a

young boy is found stabbed on his way home from school in South Birmingham.

Come on, buddy.

He was found conscious, sitting in and out of consciousness. And then he's gone

into arrest.

Did you see what happened at all?

He went to my school. I've told my mum.

If we can check for a pulse in two sites.

I've got a pulse. I've got a pulse. I've got a pulse.

Let's just make a note that that's 1622.

Pulse is detected. Okay, it's a weak central pulse.

Ready, steady, lift.

Come on, Leo.

You can do it, mate.

The boy, named by a witness at the scene, is Leo Ross, aged 12 years old.

He's taken to hospital for emergency surgery.

Crime scene investigator Drew Birtle immediately begins securing forensic

evidence at the scene, which may help identify the attacker.

So we've got the site where Amber was treated, the young lad.

There's no suggestion that over a wide area, I think that the assault is

confined to this area here.

Working in forensics.

You often see distressing and horrific things.

But when you find out this is a little kid that's been stabbed, it's

difficult to comprehend that something like that could happen.

The priority for Drew is to quickly establish how the attack has taken

We've got main pathway stretching from one end of the park to the other.

We've got secondary footpath that dog walkers, kids, cyclists will use.

We've also got marshland over there. We've got a stream there.

It's a massive area.

And we know, obviously, that suspects fled, but we don't know in which

direction.

So we've got to cordon the whole park off.

No one to go through scene.

No one coming through scene.

So if we zip it from these trees.

Whilst officers secure access to the four kilometre park, the spot where Leo

was found is protected from the elements.

Probably best to be on the safe side and cover it.

We know that young lads received stab wounds.

We don't know with what at the minute. We're assuming knife, but I wouldn't

out broken bottle, screwdriver, could be anything.

But we don't know, was there a theft of any kind? Has there been a fight?

I think it's absolutely horrific.

Leo's school clothing is recovered and the crime scene is guarded overnight.

Tributes have been paid to the 12 -year -old boy who was stabbed to death in

Birmingham yesterday.

Leo Ross was stabbed in the stomach and found near Scribers Lane in Hall Green.

He died in hospital after being taken there in an air ambulance.

OK, morning, everyone.

This is Op Ultimo, which is the murder of Leo Ross.

Following the death of the young boy in hospital, West Midlands Police launch a

murder inquiry.

Leo was stabbed around half three yesterday afternoon.

Led by Detective Inspector Joe Davenport.

That exact spot there is where he was found.

One of the first witnesses to give an account.

She states she's seen a person in the undergrowth and has gone over to help.

has noticed that he was pale, had a wound to his stomach, with blood across

stomach.

But no one actually saw what happened and there were no obvious suspects.

This case is...

Shocking because of the age of the victim.

Leo is only a 12 -year -old boy. He's in school uniform.

So for someone to quite clearly deliberately stab a 12 -year -old boy

me that this person is incredibly dangerous and needs to be found as soon

possible.

Hypothesis at the moment, then, the victim has been stabbed by an unknown

as part of a robbery or the victim has been stabbed by an unknown person for

unknown reasons.

At the moment, I have no...

clear motive or reason as to why anyone would do this to him.

Youth knife crime is a problem.

Young people stabbing other young people.

So is it gang -related?

Has he been targeted as part of a robbery?

Could be a number of different scenarios.

So our main line of inquiry today then, search the murder scene to secure and

preserve evidence of the offence.

And we need to find the murder weapon as soon as possible.

A lot of water in there. It's like a bog marsh and all sorts of... Yeah. It's

the perfect place to do something like this.

Yeah.

Drew is joined by Joe at the crime scene to help coordinate a forensic search of

the area.

The incident happened on the inner cordon up there. It's unclear which way

offender had left the scene or come into the scene.

The biggest issue we've got is an outstanding murder weapon in a massive

We've so much overgrowth.

We could be stood five metres from the murder weapon and we're never going to

know.

Police drone operators begin mapping the complex terrain to identify routes the

offender could have taken.

The river pathway also leads to nearby houses.

We're doing the investigation into the incident that happened in the park. We

were wondering if your CCTV cameras were working.

No, I'm going to go this way.

Go on, get in your position.

Six search teams move in to comb the vast area.

Good to go, yeah?

The murder weapon is vital.

It has the potential to link the suspect and the victim.

But it's a massively challenging scene.

It's got not just water, but flowing water, which could wash away DNA.

Time is essential.

The longer it's outstanding, if it's exposed to the elements, can reduce the

forensic evidence that's recovered.

a knife that on its own may not be small but hidden in the park and becomes

a needle in a haystack.

Leo Ross's many friends left flowers and messages near to the park where he was

fatally stabbed after school yesterday.

A family member described him as the most beautiful, kind child, funny, sweet

and without an aggressive bone in his body.

The community impact of this offence is massive.

As 12 -year -olds being stabbed in these circumstances I think puts fear in

everyone's heart.

Everyone thinks this could have been my child.

Tragic, really.

Yeah,

it's awful.

Leo has had his whole life taken from him, so we will stop at nothing to

identify who carried out Leo's murder.

We've got over 200 CCTV locations with many, many hours of CCTV footage at each

of those locations.

As footage starts coming in, CCTV analyst Andy MacDonald is tasked with

through it to pinpoint Leo's last known movement.

We want to find Leo because we want to ascertain if there's any other

interaction during his route which may...

have been a precursor that that led to to what happened unfortunately a lot of

the school kids were wearing the same uniform yeah the same backpack even the

same coat so we've just got this new ai software which allows us to review

vast quantities of cctv footage in very short times and review the findings

using advanced facial recognition

Andy can scour hundreds of hours of footage across multiple cameras in just

few minutes.

For me, it's a game changer and it's got a function where you can upload imagery

of individuals and ask the system to look for that person.

So that's the image of Leo.

So I'm now going to click on that clip.

And it's brought back this sighting of this individual.

And then he momentarily looks back at the camera and it's picked up somebody

that I believe is Leo.

Well, that's unbelievable.

With his hood up, it's hard to recognise him. It's really quite impressive.

If I had to view that footage, it would take me two days, three days to view.

and i may or may not have found something of relevance it's helped us to

identify leo leaving school where he sort of does a course turn towards the

camera so that is a split second where only part of his face is visible and the

ai picked it up as being leo it gives me a clear direction of travel a really

useful tool to help me focus my search from that momentary

look back towards the camera.

That's now given me a time for when Leo leaves the school.

Andy is now able to trace the young boy's journey towards the park.

So he's walked down Ravens Hill Road, crossed the road.

Along Priory Road, turning right into Scribers Lane, and then

he goes into where the offence occurred.

So that's our last sighting at 1510.

The CCTV shows that he wasn't with anyone and he doesn't appear to have had

conversation or disagreement with anyone on the way to the park.

But there's no CCTV within the park itself.

I don't know what happened.

The post -mortem examination was able to reveal a stab wound to the front of the

abdomen. Drew has received details of Leo's post -mortem, which may offer

as to how the attack unfolded.

It passed through skin muscle and entered the abdominal cavity.

It then terminated at the spine.

Once an artery's been cut in such a severe manner, it's very

difficult to come back from that.

The features of the stab wound are in keeping with the use of a single -edged

cutting implement such as a knife.

No obvious serrated features were noted.

We're looking at a smooth -bladed, medium -length knife with the wound

around about 8cm deep.

It's going to be a kitchen knife.

No defensive type injuries were noted.

Normally when we see defensive wounds, they'll be on the hands, on the

if they raise their arms to protect themselves.

So it could mean that Leo didn't even know the attack was coming.

Armed with a description of the likely murder weapon.

50 officers have now been deployed to focus the search across one kilometre of

parkland.

Coordinated by Senior Search Officer Brian Statham.

It can appear overwhelming to start with, but what I do is I will break the

area into smaller sections, what we call sectorising.

and we won't move on to other areas until each sector is done.

You've got to be switched on to find it.

You've got to realise why you're doing it. You're looking for something that

could potentially prosecute someone for a horrendous crime.

If your child was involved, you'd want that for your children.

In terms of the water search, that's all being searched.

Are you just wading into it, are you? Is it that deep?

The problem with liquid is it's really, really thick.

Because if you have a dive team... A specialist dive team moved in to conduct

fingertip search of the river, starting nearest to the crime scene.

Hiding something in such a vast

area is very easy for an offender to do.

But you've got to remember, they will probably be in a state of panic.

So they won't think. Like a normal person, they'll want to get rid of it as

quickly as possible and they will make mistakes.

And that's when we will find it.

So this is a bit of officer body cam footage.

This is where they have actually found Leo then?

Yeah.

Joe and DC James Noble review body cam from first responders to see who else

in the park at the time of the stabbing.

This is horrendous, isn't it?

Yeah.

Leo was discovered quite soon after he was stabbed, which means that people

weren't far away when this took place.

There's a window of time where we can identify all of the different people who

were there.

We've got two lads.

who are about his sort of age, need to understand who are they to him, how does

he know them, and has there been any issues between them previously?

So this lad just said he's the one who found him?

Yeah, this kid on the bike.

So he's somehow raised the alarm with other members of the public, hasn't he?

So just to confirm, you've been riding along here around three -ish.

Was it three bang on or was it after three? Because it's now near to four.

Can't really remember, but I didn't touch him because that could put me in

case.

What did he say? It could put me in the case?

Yeah, I haven't touched him because that could put me in your case.

It's not the first thing you'd think when you've come across someone who's

stabbed.

The young boy looks really, really shocked, doesn't he? Mm.

But you contrast that with...

the older lad on the bike.

The lad on the bike stands out to me.

Some people have engaged in CPR, some people are phoning 999 for the ambulance

service, whereas the lad on the bike appears to be sitting back, watching

taking place.

Stop a sec, lad.

Stop a sec before me.

You've just come through here.

I asked him for my lad to go, he said, yeah.

He wants to get off, doesn't he?

And also then trying to get away from the scene as quickly as he can.

He drove past here, apparently, and seen him on the floor stop.

He's dressed in all black.

He's wearing gloves.

And he said he's 14.

Why isn't he at school himself?

We need to know a lot more about him.

Before leaving the scene, the teenager gave his details.

The detectives check the police national computer to see whether he is known to

police.

It looks like in January last year, he's attempted to assault police officers at

the school that he attended at the time. Obviously, it looks like since then

he's been expelled.

It says that he's assaulted some kind of family therapist who he's working with

in the park, so in the exact same location.

He's the standout person, isn't he, at the moment?

Yeah.

For me, based on the information that we've got, his propensity for violence,

the other history of assault, in the exact same location, and the absence of

other clear suspect at this moment, the old lad on the bike, for me, has to be a

suspect and he has to be arrested.

Joe orders the immediate arrest of the 14 -year -old.

Hello, the police.

Where is he?

Whereabouts is he, mate?

Come here.

Put your hands out. You're more than due at rest.

Dad, turn my PlayStation on.

I'm going to pat you down on the ear, mate.

You've been arrested.

Big offence, mate, that is.

And your reaction to that is a smile.

Someone's died, haven't they?

Stop moving him.

Stick your finger up where you want.

You're mature, are you?

Specialist officers conduct a search of the teenager's home, looking for any

items of interest.

What I really need is that key piece of forensic evidence which ties him to the

offence.

Clothing and footwear are going to be your best opportunity for a forensic

but also the murder weapon, finding the suspect's phone, any electronic devices,

whether that be a laptop or any other games console.

Was he communicating with the victim or other people discussing the offence?

Although they find no mobile phone or potential murder weapon, the suspect's

clothing and PlayStation are seized and will be sent to the major crime lab.

Oh, by the way, the clothes I was wearing earlier have changed.

So we're not going to get anything off those clothes. Okay.

Even in the ones in my room, you ain't going to get nothing off them because

they ain't done nothing.

What's he been arrested for?

He was arrested for murder.

When getting arrested for the murder, he started smiling.

He stated, you won't get nothing off these clothes.

He's been smirking and making comments to officers who've arrested him.

It may be that he finds it amusing because he knows that he hasn't done

anything, or it may be that actually he's goading the police and he's getting

some kind of kick out of this.

Swabs are taken from the teenager to obtain his DNA and the clothes he's

are seized.

A suspect in custody is considered a crime scene.

They can hold forensic evidence that can link them to a victim of crime.

If the victim has grabbed suspect clothing and there was a cellular

that touched DNA can stick with him for some time.

At the moment, we don't know what weapon was used, and that is still

outstanding.

With a limited time to hold a juvenile in custody without charge, Drew and Joe

run through the forensic priorities.

From the inquiries we've conducted so far, it doesn't look like Leo and the

suspect knew each other.

No communication with phones, no electronic communication, nothing like

So we haven't recovered a phone from the suspect, and according to family, he

doesn't have one.

Leo's phone is outstanding.

We do know he has one, but it hasn't been recovered yet.

In the body -worn video, he's wearing dark clothing and he's arrested in dark

clothing as well. So there's a possibility it's the same clothing.

And it's a screening job for blood on the clothing.

I think any link that can be, particularly blood between the two

we've got to look at first and foremost, don't we? Yeah.

I'm really...

struggling at the moment to find any link between the suspect and the victim.

The maximum amount of time I have is 96 hours to gain enough evidence to get a

charging decision from the PPS, which when you consider the area which needs

be searched and how long forensic testing takes, it puts me under a lot of

pressure.

The suspect's jacket has been fast -tracked for inspection by forensic

Bo Mitchell.

So I'm just searching to see if there's any staining that looks like it could be

blood.

We're hoping to potentially find victim's blood on here.

This jacket is a particularly hard item to search, just as...

It's very dark, especially when searching for blood. In the seams, the

is black as well.

Any staining may be sort of hiding in between the seams.

We know that our victim has received a single stab wound.

And you don't always get the blood loss from the victim that you might do from

an extended attack.

I can see a stain that looks like it could be blood.

So I'm just grabbing a filter paper and test this red -brown stain to see if it

could be blood.

Bo uses a chemical mixture to check for haemoglobin found in blood.

If there's no pink reaction, then I know that it's negative.

And there's no pink reaction, so it's not blood.

It's disappointing that the jacket hasn't produced any forensic results.

A check of the teenager's shoes, worn at the time of his arrest, also reveals

nothing of note.

We still have a lot of work to do, so we need to look at further evidence

to prove or disprove that our suspect was responsible for

the murder of Leo.

Whilst officers question Leo's school friends for any connection between the

boys... The 14 -year -old is brought in for interview.

So you can rest on suspicion for murder.

I'll just read out the statement.

I wish to say I'm 14 years of age.

I'm diagnosed with ADHD, ODD, anxiety and attachment disorder.

I'm also on the autism spectrum.

I was diagnosed with the above conditions around the age of six.

I'm also under the care of numerous mental health services.

I would answer no comment or remain silent due to my condition.

Interviewing a juvenile does increase the complexities and the challenges of

this case. He's a 14 -year -old child himself, but he still got to account as

why he was there.

Does he know Leo? Have they got any history together?

The person that died, with a young boy by the name of Leo Ross.

Had you had any issues with them?

Were you in the path that is off Priory Lane and Scribers Lane on the afternoon

of the 21st of January between, say, three and four in the afternoon?

Were you carrying a knife?

Was it a case that you've seen Noah being attacked, but it wasn't you?

This is the body -worn video.

What did you mean by

that?

Why wouldn't you want to touch him to help him?

So at this moment in time, I've only got circumstantial evidence. I know the

suspect was in the park and I know he was acting unusually. He hasn't provided

an account in interview, but there could be numerous different explanations as

to why that is.

It could be that actually he knows something, but he didn't commit the

and he's covering for someone else or he may be in fear of the person who

actually stabbed Leo.

I need that key piece of information, that key forensic link.

which tells me that the suspect is connected to the offence and it's more

just his strange behaviour and the fact that he fell to account as to why he was

there.

Morning, everyone.

We still need to establish any connection between the suspect and the

The current belief and assumption is that the suspect doesn't have a mobile

phone and doesn't have a handset and doesn't have a mobile phone number, etc.

With no phone retrieved from either boy, Joe is still searching for anything

that may connect them.

We have the suspect's PlayStation.

In terms of the PlayStation, it's just for any possibility of communication

between them or if they knew each other online.

It's a long shot, but I imagine it's quite hard because they're quite

aren't they?

The suspect's PlayStation is sent to digital forensics officer, Bernie

to access.

Certain people do actually communicate quite a lot through consoles,

particularly as consoles start to gain the capability to have more and more

information on them.

With this particular device, we've got a Bluetooth dongle in the front of it.

It could be used to connect a mouse or keyboard that's wireless.

The presence of a dongle for a keyboard suggests the teenager may have used the

game's console for messaging.

Modern consoles are different to when I was a kid. When I was a kid, you'd put

the cartridge in, you'd turn it on and you'd play the game.

But now, they're quite sophisticated. You have communication capabilities,

voice, video and text, and that information can be retrieved.

So that can be a very useful piece of forensic evidence.

Well, that's quite rare that you get a password at this stage.

Unless, you know, they are quite sensitive of their privacy.

The suspect has password protected the entire device.

This PlayStation has far more encryption than most devices.

So it does get you thinking.

You know, what is the reason for these extra layers of security?

It might mean that they are trying to obfuscate criminal activity or evidence

that would potentially implicate them in an offence.

OK, let's see how this goes.

All

right.

Let's try...

Yeah, sometimes it can take a little while.

After three attempts, Bernie risks being locked out of the machine permanently

if he continues.

Four -digit PIN, I've tried his date of birth, that's not worked.

I've not got any other information really to get any further password and I

don't know how many attempts I've got.

This password was put on before they were arrested and if it's released.

Before we get access to it, that may then allow him to delete any evidence

the device.

So it's very time -sensitive.

There is a PlayStation that's been seized from your home address.

All I'm asking here is, if you're willing to, disclose the password or PIN

unlock the device.

No, it goes in it.

We looked at it there, and on the tip, it was almost like a discolouration.

It was almost like brown or red.

The team searching the crime scene have made a discovery close to the park's

perimeter.

It looks like a black -handled kitchen knife.

Difficult to see if there's any marks. I'll just photograph it there.

Photographs of the knife are sent for Drew to inspect.

Black -handled knife with approximately 13 centimetre blade.

The knife isn't in the best state.

A bit of twig and foliage has fallen over it. That could be due to it being

thrown and these arms have just been flicked on top of it.

The end of the knife has got the sharp tip missing.

which could suggest it's been damaged while being used.

You sometimes see that when you hit a pelvis or another large bone and just

end of the blade snaps off.

The knife will be fast -tracked to check for any fingerprints or DNA belonging

to either the suspect or the victim.

There we go.

On the screen, we have all the cameras that I've uploaded in relation to this

operation.

Andy has now gathered a total of 5 ,000 hours of CCTV from 200 separate

cameras around the park.

This is a mixture of motion detection, ring doorbell -type cameras, as well as

full downloads from a number of locations.

What we'll hopefully be able to do is demonstrate that if the suspect goes

that he doesn't leave.

He begins to look for anyone matching the suspect's description on the day of

the murder.

So the suspect in relation to this case was on a mountain bike and was in all

dark clothing with a hooded top so we can put a two -wheeled bike.

The AI will then review the CCTV footage that's been uploaded

identify what it thinks is a potential person on a bike.

Clicking on any of these icons enables me to review the original footage,

whether I think that is a person of note or is potentially the suspect.

So that person has similar features in terms of dark clothing.

But that's not my suspect.

Maybe even this one, let's have a look at that one as well.

It's got that look of him anyway.

No, it's not.

I don't think the bike is right for that one. No.

Yeah,

that's him.

Suspect.

Amazing.

Having identified the suspect, Andy can now track his movements in real time.

So this is the entrance to the area where the offence occurred.

And it's now showing anybody that crosses that line which is into where

offence occurred and looking for persons on bikes.

And I've got a sighting here of my suspect.

Now I know that the suspect goes into where the offence occurred at about ten

three.

And then we can see on that CCTV footage, he doesn't come out then until

gone full.

The CCTV shows the suspect enter the park 20 minutes before Leo and

only leave after police have arrived.

But there's still no forensic proof that he's the killer.

Visual search for blood conducted.

Handle's been preserved for fingerprints and cellular DNA taken from the sharp

edge of the blade.

At forensic headquarters, Drew receives the completed results for the knife

found in the park.

Light source negative.

Laser's negative.

UV.

No ridge detail.

Everything's come back negative.

I don't think that's the weapon.

No, I think we've still got an outstanding knife.

The result on the knife is disappointing.

We have minimal forensic results at this point.

There's no spin you can put on it, so we still need to find that connection

between suspect and victim.

Okay, so we've managed to get the password for this device.

After being approached by police, the suspect's family has agreed to hand over

the PIN code for his games console.

With this particular device, it's got a lot of cloud -based data, so we're going

to connect it to the internet to access PlayStation servers and get the messages

from there.

What I'm going to have to do now is what we call an account takeover.

With a PlayStation, all of the data will be stored on PlayStation servers.

That sends what we call crowd -based information, which means I can't just

download the content. We have to look at it live, and we have to look at it

quickly.

I'm actually online right now. I don't want anyone to become aware of my

presence on the device.

So the first thing I'm going to do as quick as I can is appear offline before

somebody decides to lock me out or delete any messages.

I can already see the thousands of messages on here.

Bernie starts filtering all messaging over a six -month period prior to the

murder.

From the context of this conversation, it looks like potentially...

This is his girlfriend.

Young people tend to live far more of their lives online.

I can see that there's lots of normal, ordinary teenage communication.

You know, inviting people to play various games, group chats with 20

And it's my job to determine what's normal and what's relevant to the

So there's one here.

Sort of a vague threat.

He's referring to someone being stabbed.

He says it was one of his friends. He's going to find the person that did it and

do the same to him, stab him.

Any kind of messages like that that have references to violence are obviously

going to be relevant.

They obviously don't prove the offence on their own, but we're kind of trying

build a picture.

of the suspect's character as well to prove the offence.

Bernie spots a conversation with the same friend, dating back months before

was stabbed.

So I can also see that he said, I'm going to go to prison because I'm going

kill my therapist, because he's annoying.

He then goes on to share some understanding of what the sentences are

murder in the UK, as if he has...

Looked into it before.

She said she's not going to let him kill his therapist.

She then mentioned that he's going out to kill someone now.

Looking through this message, it can be hard to decipher what is this general

teenage bravado.

Is that him trying to build himself up as this tough character?

Or is that him actually going out, trying to find someone to stab?

But there's nothing here that indicates specifically towards Leo.

And that's really the missing piece.

Sir, can you come and have a look at this, please?

Intelligence officer Derek Dolan has been looking into a spate of violent

assaults in the same park, which may be relevant to the investigation.

We've got the offences from Leo on the 21st, and then we've got three other

offences within the three -day period before Leo, and they all involve the use

of a bike. It's a black bike.

So the first offence, which is two days before Leo's murder. This one here is

Leo's murder?

By the way, yeah. And the one just below it is the... So how far is that then?

It's approximately 50 metres.

82 -year -old female, and she's been pushed from behind.

She's fallen into the river. The offender has hit her multiple times.

She's got a broken nose.

She's got swelling and bruising to the face.

The next offence was the following day. There was a female walking on her own.

The male has knocked her down from behind.

Third offence. Again, a lone female, 69 years of age.

He pushed her and she screamed.

She said that he turned around and he smiled at her.

This was only about half an hour before Leo's murder.

It's just really strange, isn't it, the way in which these offences have taken

place. From behind, like an unprovoked attack to vulnerable people on their

And what was the...

Description for each of them?

For each of these offences.

Description is a white male, mid -teens, black clothing on, on a pushbike.

So no robbery, no kind of argument or dispute beforehand?

That's right, yeah. No motive or anything like that.

It's almost like he's going out hunting, looking for people to attack.

We've got footage for the 21st. We've pretty much got footage for the 19th and

the 20th as well.

The new evidence prompts Andy to expand his CCTV search to include the dates the

teenager is suspected of carrying out the assaults in the park.

So this is the fire team coming in to try to get the first victim pulled out

the water.

A young kid has come, has ran down here and ran away.

We've also then got him coming back to sort of observe the emergency services

vehicles. Right.

So down here is the emergency services.

So he's at the top of the road having a good look and he stays there for a

little bit of time and then winds off again. Yeah. And he keeps coming back.

So, and then he's coming back. Very contradictory behaviour, isn't it? Yeah.

demonstrates.

100%, yeah.

He's clearly got some kind of obsession or interest in relation to

what's occurring.

The behaviour of the suspect hanging around after the alarm is raised and all

the emergency services start to come in points out to me that he's perhaps

enjoying seeing the sort of chaos that he's created, which just demonstrates

dangerous he is.

The new evidence is put to the 14 -year -old in interview.

We've talked about the murder, but there's another incident that took place

where a lady's being pushed over in the park.

Do you know that person?

No, no.

She's ended up with two to three centimetre gashes on the right side of

head, suspected fractured hip.

Are you responsible for causing those injuries to her?

Have you pushed them? No comment.

Have you kicked her? No comment.

So on the 19th of January, the lady was knocked into the water within the nature

reserve, and the person hitting her said to her, I tried to drown you, and now

I'm going to try and kill you instead.

Did you hit her?

No comment.

There doesn't appear to be any motive, and that makes the investigation harder.

And I'm running out of time.

The threshold... will be higher to charge a teenager for a murder obviously

we're going to deprive that child liberty so we need to be really

the evidence that we have and the cps need to be really confident that we have

the right person before they take such an extreme measure

i'll show you the actual footage

which is on this computer let me see if we can get this to work

Andy alerts Joe to footage he's discovered on a park camera recently

to target fly -tipping.

Now, when he goes through at 15, 16, he's riding at a very slow pace, shall

say.

His next sighting of him, at 15, 28, he comes flying

round here.

He's at speed and he's having to put his foot down.

to prevent himself possibly from skidding out or falling off because he

around here at a real weight. OK, yeah.

The camera briefly captured the 14 -year -old at 3 .28pm, 11 minutes

before Leo's stabbing was reported to emergency services.

So it's certainly possible that he's now committed the offence and this is when

he's disposing of the knife.

Using the new footage, the search team are able to narrow down a route the

teenager may have taken to dump a weapon after committing the offence.

If we get you down this pathway, then I'd like this bit concentrated on in

he's thrown it over the water.

So if he was in a rush, it'd be a hasty throw, I think.

He's been out of sight for a couple of minutes, so for me, that narrows down.

a time frame of where he could be because you've got a factor in the

you've got to get somewhere you've got to hide something and then he's got to

cycle back brian orders the search of an area near a bridge where the suspect is

likely to have ridden past it's a bit foggy in some places be very careful

Sarge, I think we've got a knife there.

Yeah, it's like a kitchen knife.

It's based in another island, literally to the right, and it's probably like 20

metres there, and it's literally on the bank.

How much is the blade?

The recovery of the knife moves the investigation forward a massive amount.

It's got the appearance of it being freshly discarded there.

So where that grass pit is there, over this other side, it's in there.

But it was outside, it wasn't located straight away.

So there's a high potential for evidence to be destroyed.

Only forensic analysis will determine whether we've got the right weapon.

The first thing that I'll do is search for blood.

We have to look in all of the grooves just to make sure we're not missing any

areas.

With a single stab wound, we will often find that the blood won't just settle on

the blade. With the layers of clothing that Leo was wearing, the potential

of the attack, the blade can often get cleaned from coming into contact with.

the victim's clothing the top of the handle looks red brown

so i'm going to test that first

if

we have blood present we will get a pink reaction

That's negative.

So at this point, I'm happy that the knife is negative for blood, so I can go

ahead and sample for cellular.

The lack of blood doesn't mean the lack of evidence.

It may be that the visible blood has washed off, but there may still be trace

DNA evidence left on the blade and the handle.

So if you think about anything that you physically touch, there is always going

to be a transfer of DNA.

So in this case, obviously we're interested in how the knife will have

handled. And if the individual has handled it without gloves, then

there would be a transfer of any skin on their hands to the handle of the knife.

Next, the sample is processed to extract DNA.

This will give detectives a full profile they can compare with the suspect in

custody.

Hello, Judge Lamport. Are you Judge Drew from FSI?

The DNA profiling results have been fast -tracked to Drew.

It's coming back a full profile on the blade and tip of the knife found to Leo

Ross.

So it's definitely the knife used then?

Yeah, and the handle is coming back to our suspect.

Brilliant.

And it's saying that it's at least a billion times more likely to be DNA

contribution from our suspect.

I think we've got our weapon there, mate.

Great. That's a brilliant result, isn't it? Definitely, definitely.

The knife that was recovered contained DNA of Leo and DNA of the suspect.

It's a massive result for the investigation.

It's a huge relief when you get a forensic hit like this.

It demonstrates that you have identified the right person, but not only that,

that you're now in a strong position to get justice for the victim and for his

family.

OK, I need to read something to you. It's quite important, all right?

Come with me.

You just stand there.

The case was referred to the Crown Prosecution Service for a charging

They've come back with several charges that I've got to read out to you, OK? So

you were charged with the following on the 21st of January at Triffid Mill

You murdered Leo Ross, contrary to common law.

Do you wish to make any reply?

OK. You'll be escorted back to your cell by these officers.

Along with murder, the teenager is also charged with three counts of grievous

bodily harm in relation to the other assaults in the park.

When something like this happens, and it's a child murdering a child, it's

difficult to make any sense of it.

Knowing the history of the offender previous to the murder of Leo, I would

there is a very strong chance he would have continued to offend if he wasn't

caught and arrested.

The offender is a 14 -year -old child himself.

It's clear to me that he wasn't of a sound mental state, not just immediately

before Leo's murder, but probably for quite a few years in his life.

Unfortunately, I think we're seeing it more and more in society where there

doesn't appear to be a motive and it is just down to the person's mental health.

So this is a really tragic case.

The 12 -year -old boy has lost his life.

who did nothing wrong and was completely innocent.

Leo just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Every contact leaves a trace that forensic experts can follow.

Explore it for yourself with the Open University's new interactive case

simulator.

Scan the QR code on screen or visit connect .open .ac .uk forward slash

RealtySI.