Zephaniah McLeod: How the knifeman's attacking spree in Birmingham unfolded

ITV News Central Reporter Pablo Taylor reports on Zephaniah McLeod's erratic stabbing spree and how it unfolded last year

Zephaniah McLeod has been sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court to life with a minimum term of 21 years for killing a university worker and stabbing seven other people during a spate of knife attacks in the city.

McLeod's 90 minute attack in Birmingham in September last year caused panic across the city centre.

His rampage started on Great Hampton Street at about 12.40am, where he stabbed a man in the neck.

Ten minutes later, he had struck again, this time attacking a woman on Livery Street.

Shortly afterwards, a man was stabbed in the chest on Barwick Street.

CCTV then captures McLeod dumping his knife in a drain.

Police officers said he then walked to a pizza restaurant towards the south of the city centre to ask staff for one of their knives.

Footage captures the moment McLeod was apprehended by police in Birmingham

When they refused, he ordered a taxi and travelled 20 minutes back to his home in Selly Oak to pick up another knife.

He then returned, where he attacked a group of friends enjoying a night out on Irving Street.

Jacob Billington, 23,, was stabbed in the neck and died a short time later. His close friend, Michael Callaghan, was badly injured.

McLeod went on to attack another three people in the city's Gay Village, before the violence finally ended at about 2am.

McLeod was tracked down at his home around 24 hours later.

At the time of the initial police response the stabbing attacks from McLeod in Birmingham were treated as isolated incidents, West Midlands Police say

His stabbing spree led to serious questions about the response of West Midlands Police.

Many had questioned why it had taken them so long to stop a lone knifeman.

They maintain the sporadic and random nature of the attack led them to believe the attacks were isolated incidents.

The attack has also raised serious and ongoing questions about the management of McLeod's mental health.

The 28-year-old had been in prison before and had also been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

At the time of the attack, he was no longer on probation, but Jacob Billington's family have asked why he wasn't being monitored by mental health agencies.

'He didn't appear to be monitored in the way in which you would imagine he would', Jacob Billington's mum says

Jacob Billington's mother, Joanne, said: "He didn't appear to be monitored in the way in which you would imagine he would as somebody who was known to be dangerous and had a long previous history of being dangerous.

"He had a known mental health condition - none at all seemed to have been taken into account into how he was being monitored."

There is currently a review commissioned by the NHS in relation to McLeod's mental health management.

Today, a judge at Birmingham Crown Court sentenced McLeod to life imprisonment for the killing of Jacob Billington and stabbing seven others in Birmingham last year.

He will be detained at Ashworth Mental Hospital until he is deemed well enough to leave, where he will be transferred to prison to serve the remainder of his term.

But the mother of Michael Callaghan, who he badly injured, said she doesn't think he should ever be freed.

'I don't think he can ever be trusted again', Michael Callaghan's mum says

Mr Callaghan's mother, Anne, told ITV Central: "All I want is for him to be off the streets because I don't think he can ever be trusted again.

"So, my fear is that somebody will say in the future that he is well now and I don't think, he's not answered any questions, he's not talked about it."

"We don't know anything about why he did what he did, how can anybody he's safe again?"