Father of Emily Jones says mental health failings made killer ‘ticking time bomb’

Mark Jones says doctors knew Eltiona Skana was not taking anti-psychotic medication

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

The father of Emily Jones has blamed mental healthcare failures for making the woman who killed his daughter a “ticking time bomb”.

Eltiona Skana, a paranoid schizophrenic, admitted slitting the seven-year-old’s throat in a Bolton park on Mother’s Day.

She pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was cleared of murder after the prosecution withdrew the charge on Friday.

Emily’s father, Mark Jones, said his daughter’s death could have been prevented if Skana had been monitored properly and taken her medication.

The court heard that she had not been taking prescribed anti-psychotic drugs and was assessed only once in the three months leading up to Emily's death.

“They knew she didn't comply with oral medication but they allowed her to take it on her own volition – that is a ridiculous thing to do,” Mr Jones told The Mail on Sunday. “She was a ticking time bomb.”

Emily had been taken to Queen's Park in Bolton by her father on the afternoon of 22 March, and was riding her scooter when she spotted her mother, Sarah Barnes, who was jogging.

The youngster was calling out to her mother as she scooted past a park bench where Skana was sitting alone.

Skana got up, grabbed Emily and slit her throat with a craft knife before running off. She was chased and detained by a member of the public before police arrived.

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, which was responsible for Skana’s care, said there were “no markers of deterioration in [her] mental state or behaviour which would have foreseen this tragic event”.

A serious incident review concluded that the killing “could not have been predicted or prevented” and Skana “was managed appropriately given the clinical findings”.

Mr Jones said the finding clashed with failings detailed by the report, adding: “It is absolute nonsense. They are just trying to relinquish all responsibility - and she was their responsibility.”

The father added: “I’ve got to get justice for her and do everything I can so that it doesn’t happen again. I want something good to come out of it. That’s keeping me going.”

Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard that Skana, originally from Albania, came to the UK in 2014 and had been having injections of anti-psychotic drugs each month since 2017.

Skana told medics the medication had caused her mental health to deteriorate and she began taking tablets instead of injections.

But when police raided her flat in Bolton after her arrest they found a stash of untaken, anti-psychotic drugs, which amounted to around a month's worth of medication.

From mid-December of last year until 11 March, the 30-year-old had no face-to-face contact with her mental health workers, the jury heard.

Skana stabbed her own mother in 2017 and had also attacked her sister. She had been admitted to psychiatric hospitals three times.

Dr Syed Afghan, her consultant at the high-security Rampton Hospital agreed Skana became psychotically violent when not taking her medication.

A spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service said there was “no longer sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction for a murder charge”.

“Skana pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, and will be sentenced for that offence at a later date,” a statement added.

“We met with Emily's family to explain the reasons for our decision. This is a very tragic case and all our thoughts are with them at this time.”

The killing has been appropriated by the far right as part of a “white life matters” campaign, and was rolled into conspiracy theories over murders by Muslims and black people.

News of Skana’s acquittal for murder on Friday sparked a fresh wave of activity on extremist social media networks, including threats towards lawyers involved in the case.

Police were forced to deny that Skana was Somalian in early stages of the investigation, when she could not be named, while the media was accused of a “cover-up” despite prominent reporting of the case.

Earlier this year, Emily’s parents issued a statement through Greater Manchester Police (GMP) asking for a photo that had been issued as a tribute to their daughter not to be used in any protests or campaigns.

"We hold this picture dear to our hearts and to see it being used in this way is incredibly upsetting – Emily loved everything and everyone, regardless of their race, gender or beliefs," they said.