'He revelled in his hard man reputation': What led to a teen killing an elderly dog walker

Bhim Kohli, 80, died in hospital after being attacked at Franklin Park

The brutal killing of an elderly man, carried out by a racially abusive 14-year-old boy with a thirst for social media notoriety.

This is the assessment of Leicestershire Police Det Ch Insp Mark Sinski, who led the investigation into a teenager's fatal attack on 80-year-old Bhim Kohli, who was walking his dog Rocky at a park in Leicestershire in September 2024.

On Tuesday, the young killer, now 15 - who cannot be named due to his age - was found guilty of manslaughter, while a younger female friend who cheered him on and filmed parts of the attack on her phone was convicted of the same offence.

Det Ch Insp Sinski said the killing of Mr Kohli ranked as one of the most shocking cases of his career.

"This is unusual," he said. "This has been of national significance and certainly very impactive on the local community.

"As a rule, elderly people aren't attacked by children but in this case he was, and that shocked the community, and the [victim's] family to the core, and indeed the wider public."

Det Ch Insp Sinski said the violence and racist abuse inflicted on Mr Kohli at Franklin Park in Braunstone Town had been completely unprovoked.

"He was minding his business. He was a social guy, he had engaged with another park user already," he said.

"He walked around the perimeter of the park as he had numerous times before - this was the park adjacent to the family home.

"He was just enjoying a stroll with his dog during the course of that evening and he was set about totally unprovoked in what was a vicious and fatal attack.

"There was a racial element - and Mr Kohli told us that himself. He said he had been racially slurred, and I won't use the term, it's a repugnant term.

"It certainly doesn't fit in with that community. That was a community that was extremely close, happy and they all lived in harmony. Racism didn't feature.

"I've spoken to Mr Kohli's daughter and she said she was shocked to the core this had arisen in normally a really cohesive and happy community."

Det Ch Insp Mark Sinski said it had been a shocking case to work on

The senior detective also said he was in no doubt social media had played a role.

"The proliferation and use of phones and social media messages features more and more in inquiries and certainly with young people who now live their lives via phones," he said.

"The three videos on the phone showed this female defendant wanted to film violence and indeed encouraged it.

"And when we looked at her phone and examined it further, chillingly there were numerous previous incidents where she had filmed violence and was encouraging violence.

"The prosecution case was that was no coincidence, and that very much mirrored the attack on Mr Kohli."

Adolescence, which stars Leicestershire-based actor Stephen Graham, has prompted a national debate about young people

Det Ch Insp Sinski said the boy used two Snapchat names - one which boasted of his punching power and another that referred to using a disguise.

"It was the prosecution case he revelled in his reputation as a hard man and his propensity to violence," he said.

"So yes, social media did feature in this."

His concerns echo an ongoing national debate about school-age children's relationships with social media, prompted by hard-hitting Netflix drama Adolescence.

It led to the programme's makers being invited to a meeting with the prime minister to discuss the problem of pupils being able to access violent and problematic material online.

Mr Kohli was well known for tending his plots at a nearby allotment

Det Ch Insp Sinski said since the investigation began, the loss felt by Mr Kohli's friends and family had been at the forefront of his colleagues' minds.

"A much-loved family man, a pillar of the community, has lost his life," he said.

"His family are traumatised, devastated and lost all that they had in that very loved and respected man.

"And a community has lost a pillar of all that was best there."

The trial and guilty verdicts will have brought back painful memories for Mr Kohli's friends, who laid flowers after his death at the allotment he loved to spend time at.

Among them was his long-term friend Linda Haigh, who vividly remembers the day the Mr Kohli was attacked.

Linda Haigh was friends with Mr Kohli for more than 20 years

She said she noticed emergency service vehicles driving past her home and went outside to see what was happening.

"Some of the neighbours were outside and they said 'it's Bhim, he has been attacked'," she recalled.

Mrs Haigh immediately went to the nearby Franklin Park.

"I ran towards the entrance to the park and he was on the floor, in the park, screaming with pain," she said.

He died the following day in hospital.

Six months have passed since the attack, but Mrs Haigh said local people remained in shock.

"A lot of people won't use the park," she said.

"The first time I went on was a few days after Bhim had died and I went on with his family because they still take Rocky on to the park and I still go on the park, but I'm very wary."

Marie Chatterton is a regular visitor to Franklin Park and told the BBC she often spoke to Mr Kohli as they passed each other.

"He was very gentle. He wasn't at all aggressive. I could never imagine him being nasty or anything like that. He came over very mild," she said.

Jenish Thanki runs a convenience store near the park and clearly recalls the strong reaction to Mr Kohli's killing.

He said: "We had some elders, and people coming in the shop and they were so devastated. They would never expect something like this in the community. People were shocked, how can something like this happen?"

The community may not yet have an answer to that question but they will, perhaps, feel they now have justice.