Releasing high-risk prisoner with no further monitoring was ‘concern’ – inquest

Paranoid schizophrenic Zephaniah McLeod killed Jacob Billington, 23, and injured seven others months in a stabbing spree after his release.

Zephaniah McLeod killed Jacob Billington and injured seven others in a knife rampage in Birmingham (West Midlands Police/PA) (PA Media)

A high-risk prisoner who was released without any restrictions or further monitoring and went on to carry out a murderous rampage was a “cause for concern” but there were no controls that could legally be placed on him, an inquest has heard.

Paranoid schizophrenic Zephaniah McLeod was released from HMP Parc in South Wales at the height of the pandemic in April 2020, just five months before he went on a knife spree in Birmingham on September 6 2020, stabbing eight people and leaving one, 23-year-old Jacob Billington, dead.

An inquest into the death of Mr Billington at Birmingham and Solihull Coroner’s Court is expected to look at McLeod’s offending before he carried out the fatal attack; his time in prison; and his mental health treatment, as well as how his release from prison was managed.

The court heard on Monday that McLeod, who had a string of previous convictions and had been imprisoned a number of times since 2016, refused to take part in rehabilitation or work programmes, would not regularly engage with mental health services, refusing to speak to psychiatrists and cancelling planned appointments while in prison and would only take his medication sporadically.

He presented a high risk of serious harm and was being released without licence and that’s something that is always a cause for concern as there are no controls or restrictions you can put on people – that’s the law, determinate sentences are determinate sentences.

Mike Vigar, HMP Parc

He reported to psychiatrists that he heard threatening voices telling him to kill or stab people and saw shadows but that he felt he could manage the symptoms without medication.

Mike Vigar, the head of rehabilitation at HMP Parc, where McLeod was a prisoner between September 12 2019 and April 2020, while serving a sentence for possession of an imitation firearm and possession with intent to supply, told the inquest that when McLeod had completed his sentence, there were no restrictions or controls they could put on him even if he was considered a risk to others.

He said: “He presented a high risk of serious harm and was being released without licence and that’s something that is always a cause for concern as there are no controls or restrictions you can put on people – that’s the law, determinate sentences are determinate sentences. It is a really difficult one.”

Mr Vigar also said measures that had to be put in place in the prison during the height of the pandemic made providing services for prisoners “challenging”.

In the six-month period that McLeod was a prisoner at HMP Parc, he had three different probation officers due to Covid, with one of them, a former prison officer, being redeployed back onto the wing.

Mr Vigar also told the court how the organisation that helped prisoners with resettlement upon their release, and the mental health in-reach team, moved out of the prison during the pandemic.

He said: “I’m not sure that the reallocation and reallocation again to different probation officers was helpful (for McLeod) in terms of continuity.

“I think I would also question the decision of multiple organisations removing themselves from the prison during Covid – it was done hastily with no real contingency in place to continue delivering a good level of service.

“I wouldn’t underestimate the significant disruption of Covid – it’s no consolation to the family of Mr Billington, but it was a really challenging time to maintain services throughout that period.

“It is very difficult to explain it but safety in prisons became an absolute priority and it impacted on everyone’s ability to deliver other services.”

The court was also told that a meeting to discuss multi-agency, public protection arrangements (Mappa), which are put in place to ensure the successful management of violent and sexual offenders, was held a month after McLeod arrived at HMP Parc – but the prison was not invited to take part and did not know about it.

At that meeting, McLeod was dropped from a level two risk, for cases where active interagency management is required to manage the risk of serious harm posed, to level one, effectively discharging him from Mappa management – not because he was no longer a risk, but because he would not engage and he was reaching the end of his sentence.

The inquest continues.