A man has today admitted killing a Crosby university worker in a devastating knife attack after expert evidence was accepted that he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time.
Zephaniah McLeod pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Jacob Billington, a 23-year-old university worker, in Birmingham.
He also admitted several linked charges in connection with seven other people injured in the same incident.
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McLeod entered pleas at Birmingham Crown Court today in connection with the spate of stabbings in the early hours of Sunday, September 6 last year, as the city was packed with revellers.
McLeod, who appeared in court over a video link from Ashworth Hospital in Maghull, wearing a white T-shirt and dark blue zip-up top, spoke to confirm his name and say he understood proceedings, before entering pleas.
In addition to the charge of manslaughter, McLeod admitted four counts of attempted murder.
McLeod pleaded not guilty to three other counts of attempted murder, but instead admitted three charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in connection with those incidents.
The court heard McLeod had suffered with paranoid schizophrenia at the time.
The 28-year-old, of Nately Grove, Selly Oak, had been in custody since being charged with committing the attacks, which happened in the space of 90 minutes.
Jacob Billington, a Sheffield Hallam University graduate intern and drummer from Crosby, was fatally stabbed in the neck.
The 23-year-old was among eight people stabbed during the attacks which triggered a major emergency services response.
Mr Billington's mother was in court and his father dialled in to the video-link to hear the pleas, while family members of a number of the other victims also listened in to the proceedings.
Seven others were injured in four clusters of attacks across the city centre, including Mr Billington's old school friend and bandmate Michael Callaghan, also from Crosby.
Prosecutor Karim Khalil QC told the court the guilty and not guilty pleas were acceptable to the prosecution.
The barrister told the brief hearing: "Those pleas were entered as anticipated... they are pleas which the Crown accepts in this case."
Explaining the decision, Mr Khalil added: "The psychiatrists instructed by both the Crown and the defence concluded in agreement with one another that the defendant clearly suffered from a condition of paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the material events.
"It was unquestionably a condition which affected his ability to understand all that was going on."
Mr Khalil said consultations had taken place prior to the decision, with victims and their parents in the case of Mr Billington.
After the pleas were entered and accepted, 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."
The judge added that it was important that the psychiatrists involved in assessing McLeod were now given time to help the court determine the proper sentence on him.
McLeod will be sentenced in September.
Mr Callaghan, also 23, suffered serious injuries and had to be transferred to Liverpool to undergo rehabilitation at a "specialist neurological hospital."
Mr Billington had been in the city with friends to celebrate with one of their number who was studying in Birmingham.
Michael and Jacob had been friends throughout their schooldays at Great Crosby Primary School and Sacred Heart Catholic College.
They then attended university together in Sheffield and formed a band, The Vedetts, with other friends, with Michael the lead singer and guitarist, and Jacob the drummer.
Jacob had been working at Sheffield Hallam University while Michael, an engineering graduate, had recently started a job with the NHS on Merseyside.
