A man who stabbed eight people in a horror knifing spree has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Zephaniah McLeod pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court to the manslaughter of university worker Jacob Billington and charges in connection with seven other people injured in a series of knife attacks in the city centre in September 2020.
Jacob, 23, tragically died after being attacked in Irving Street while enjoying a night out with school friends from Liverpool visiting one of their group who is studying in Birmingham.
A post mortem concluded he died as a result of a stab wound to the neck.
"The defendant suffered from paranoid schizophrenia at the time," said Karim Khalil QC, prosecuting.
The first three victims were stabbed by the defendant in "quick succession"
McLeod then returned to his home address and armed himself with another knife before going out again and attacking more victims.
The rampage started at around 12.30am on Sunday September 6.
He approached his first victim, Dimitar Bachvarov, in Constitution Hill, .and asked for a cigarette before stabbing him in the neck with a knife and running off.
About 20 minutes later in Livery Street, Migle Dolobauskaite was stabbed to the left side of the neck and shoulder by the defendant.
The third victim, Thomas Glassey, was in Barwick Street when he was stabbed twice by McLeod and left in a critical condition.
Mr Grieves-Smith said the knife the defendant used was later found in a drain nearby.
McLeod then went to a pizza shop and tried to get another knife.
After his request for a knife was refused, he got a taxi back to his home and the prosecutor said there was footage of him arriving there at 1.39am.
McLeod was inside the property for about four minutes and police later found a box of knives at the address.
He then returned to the city centre to look for more victims.
He stabbed Jacob Billington and Michael Callaghan who were with a group of friends who had returned to a hotel after a night out.
Mcleod used the same excuse when approaching them asking for a cigarette and a light before stabbing Mr Billington in the neck and shoulder.
Mr Billington, 23 , a Sheffield Halam graduate, from Crosby, Merseyside,had been in the city with friends to celebrate one of their number who was studying in Birmingham.
The Recorder of Birmingham Judge Melbourne Inman QC said of the stabbings: “There are many people touched and affected by the case.
“The hearing this morning may appear to be disproportionately short given the very grave seriousness of the case.
“But it’s quite clear that the Crown and the defence have given very careful expert consideration of the evidence.”
McLeod will be sentenced in September.
