Woman who slit throat of seven-year-old girl in random attack given life sentence

“Emily was our beautiful, spirited little girl, a bundle of energy with an infectious personality” says the girl’s family.

Eltiona Skana, 30, has been cleared of the murder of Emily Jones, seven, in a park in Bolton. (PA)

A woman has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of eight years in a high security prison after slitting the throat of a seven-year-old girl in a park on Mother’s Day.  

Eltiona Skana, 30, got up from a bench and randomly attacked Emily Jones as she went past on a scooter, calling out, "Mummy! Mummy!" to her mother jogging round Queen's Park, Bolton on March 22.

Skana lives with paranoid schizophrenia, and has a long history of mental illness. Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, heard that she had not been taking her antipsychotic medication.

The defendant pleaded guilty for manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility but was put on trial for murder.

Passing sentence Mr Justice Wall ordered that Skana serve her sentence at Rampton Hospital and will be subject to restrictions under the Mental Health Act, to only be released if she no longer poses a risk to the public.

He told the defendant: "The facts of this case are chilling.

"The background to the killing is your enduring mental health condition."

He said that despite her mental illness, Skana retained "a significant amount of responsibility", which merited punishment through means of a "hybrid" order, wherein the defendant will go to prison once her condition improves after she is held at the aforementioned mental hospital.

Emily had been taken to the park by her father Mark Jones, 49, on the Sunday afternoon of Mother's Day 2020, and was on her scooter when she saw her mother, solicitor Sarah Barnes, 42.

As she went to her mother, Emily passed Skana, alone armed with a knife purchased earlier that day.

Skana stood up, pulled her hood up and grabbed the girl, slitting her throat before running away, but was tackled to the ground nearby by a member of the public, Tony Canty.

Mr Jones cradled his dying daughter, telling her: "Just stay with me Emily, stay with me. Don't leave me," he told the Mail on Sunday newspaper.

The girl was taken by air ambulance to Salford Royal Hospital, but Emily had gone into cardiac arrest and, with her mother at her bedside, she was pronounced dead at 3.56pm.

In a moving tribute to Emily, her parents wrote: "How can you put into words how you feel about the senseless death of your only child? It is just too difficult to comprehend.

"Emily was the beat in our hearts, the spring in our step and the reason we got up every morning.

"Emily was our beautiful, spirited little girl, a bundle of energy with an infectious personality.

Mr Jones has criticised Skana's mental health care.

The trial heard the defendant, who first came to the UK from her native Albania in 2014 after claiming asylum, had a long history of mental illness.

She had not been taking her antipsychotic drugs and had only been seen once by her mental health nurse in the three months before the killing.

Skana was detained under the Mental Health Act immediately after her arrest.

Mr Justice Wall queried the level of "residual responsibility" despite Skana's illness, because she appeared to be aware of her actions, had purchased the knife and had run away after the attack.

And he questioned why she had also concealed the fact she was not taking her medication from her health workers.

Simon Csoka QC, mitigating, cited expert psychiatric evidence which suggested concealment and non-compliance with taking medication was often part of the illness for paranoid schizophrenics.

He said: "We contend all the evidence, including the psychiatric evidence heard at the trial, that the driver for this offence is the defendant's mental illness."

Psychiatrist Dr Helen Whitworth told the hearing: "In reality I don't think this was wilful deceit. This was a woman who did not understand she was mentally ill.

"In my opinion Miss Skana needs to be therapeutically medicated at all times, probably for the rest of her life."

Senior investigating officer Duncan Thorpe, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "This was an absolutely devastating incident that has left Emily's parents and family completely heartbroken and I know it sent shockwaves across the country as everyone mourned the loss of this innocent little girl.

"Emily was taken from her family and friends in the worst possible way."

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, responsible for Skana's care, has said a review found Emily's killing could not have been foreseen.

Skana was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2015 and had been sectioned and treated as an in-patient twice in hospital.

On one occasion she had picked up a knife after claiming neighbours wanted to harm her, and another time she stabbed her mother in the hand.

Skana was initially given injections of antipsychotic medication but switched to taking it orally through pills while under the care of the community mental health team.

A nurse who visited her on March 11 told the court she did not detect any psychotic symptoms.