Browsing: Crime

Lilia Valutyte was pronounced dead at the scene (Picture: PA)

A jury has been shown CCTV footage of the moment a nine-year-old girl was stabbed to death in broad daylight during the trial of the man accused of her murder.

Lilia Valutyte died from a single stab wound to the heart as she played outside a shop where her mum was working in Boston, Lincolnshire, last year.

The suspect, Deividas Skebas, is undergoing a trial of facts rather than a traditional criminal trial because he is not fit to plead or stand.

Before the trial began on Monday judge Mrs Justice McGowan DBE told the jury: ‘You are not going to be asked to say guilty or not guilty because this is not a normal trial.

‘The defendant in this case is seriously mentally ill and he is not here and can’t play a proper part in the trial.

‘It has already been decided that he is unfit to plead because of his mental illness.

‘What you are going to be asked to do is not to say whether he is guilty or not guilty but whether he is responsible for the acts.

‘This is a serious and sad case and you will be reminded a number of times to try and put emotion to one side.

‘It is important that when you come to decide whether or not you are sure he did it that however sad you found the case, you put that to one side and make a logical and clear decision.’

She was only nine years old (Picture: PA)

She was playing in the street outside a shop when she was attacked (Picture: PA)

Opening the trial at Lincoln crown court, prosecutor Christopher Donnellan KC showed the jury of six men and six women a video showing a man, alleged to be Skebas, running towards Lilia before stabbing her and running away.

He said Skebas, 23, first came to the UK from Lithuania in 2020, returning to his home country before coming back to the UK in July 2022.

After arriving in Boston he was seen on CCTV buying a paring knife from a Wilko shop in the town centre two days before the killing.

In one clip, moments before her death, Lilia was seen playing outside the shop in which her mother worked, with the man whom the Crown claims was Skebas seen standing at the top of Fountain Lane.

The man, in a grey T-shirt and jeans, was then seen walking towards his victim, with Lilia moving out of the way as he approached before he stabbed her and ran away.

Mr Donnellan said: ‘Just after 6.15pm in the late afternoon, early evening of July 28 last year, Lilia Valutyte, a little girl aged nine, was playing outside a shop where her mother was actually working in Boston town centre.

‘The defendant, Mr Skebas, approached, quickening his pace as he moved towards (her), then reaching behind his back.

‘He pulled out a knife. He continued with his pace. He thrust the knife straight into her chest and through into her heart.

‘Although within less than a minute an off-duty police officer who was just going home and was nearby came to her aid, and was followed by other officers and the ambulance, sadly her life could not be saved and she was formally pronounced dead at 7.11pm that evening.

‘The prosecution case is that he unlawfully killed her with that single stab wound to the chest.

‘You are only deciding whether he did it. You don’t have to decide about his intention or indeed about his mental state.’

Police issued this CCTV image during their appeal for information (Picture: PA)

Lilia’s coffin was covered in butterflies (Picture: PA)

Skebas ran past Detective Constable Andrew Pearson, who was off-duty at the time.

Giving evidence, DC Pearson said he heard a ‘metallic clank’ and was about to chase the man who ran past him before he heard an ‘anguished scream’ from behind him.

Skebas was arrested on July 30 after a public appeal. He was interviewed a day later but gave what Mr Donnellan described as a ‘bizarre’ explanation for the killing.

Mr Donnellan said: ‘He admitted that he had stabbed Lilia. He admitted he has seen (her) playing in the street. He identified himself in the CCTV extracts.’

A search of Skebas’s home in Thorold Street, Boston, found a paring knife deemed consistent with the murder weapon.

The trial is estimated to last two days, but he did not appear on Monday and will play no part in proceedings.

Andrew Campbell-Tiech KC, appointed by the court to mitigate on the defendant’s behalf, told the jury: ‘We have a highly emotive case where the desire to blame runs very high.

‘The more horrendous the case, the greater the desire to blame. The greater the pressure to blame, the greater the risk to attach it to an individual identified.

‘We are not in a position to challenge evidence because we have no instructions.

‘We are appointed by the court to test that evidence.’

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Police and emergency services rushed to the four-star hotel in Salou (Picture: SolarPix)

An Irish tourist has been arrested on suspicion of murder after his partner was found strangled to death at a hotel in a Spanish holiday resort.

Police confirmed they held the 30-year-old man on Sunday night after rushing to a hotel in the Costa Dorada resort of Salou and finding her lying lifeless in a corridor.

Her alleged killer, discovered beside her with a ‘self-inflicted’ wrist wound, was taken to hospital where he remained under police guard today.

Sources close to the investigation have confirmed the arrested tourist is Irish like the 36-year-old woman he is suspected of strangling to death.

The same sources also indicated the pair, thought to be from Dublin although this has not been confirmed by officials, were understood to be partners and were sharing the same hotel room.

He allegedly used a cord to strangle her.

A hotel worker is said to have found the victim in one of the corridors trying to escape her suspected killer, according to a local report.

It is believed the man and woman had been staying together in the luxury hotel (Picture: SolarPix)

She is said to have been found dead in the corridor outside her hotel room (Picture: SolarPix)

Staff at the four-star Magnolia Hotel in Salou where the horror incident occurred said they were unable to make any comment.

The alarm was raised around 9.30pm last night.

A spokesman for the regional Mossos d’Esquadra police force said: ‘Officers from the Mossos d’Esquadra’s Criminal Investigation Decision in Tarragona have arrested a man allegedly related to the violent death of a woman in Salou last night.

‘The events occurred around half past nine when the Mossos received a warning from a hotel in Salou saying a woman was seriously injured.

‘When they arrived at the scene, the officers found a woman lying on the floor and a man next to her with a self-inflicted wound.

‘Although emergency medical responders tried to revive the woman, they were finally only able to certify her death.

‘Officers arrested the man as the alleged perpetrator of the death.’

The suspect is under police guard at Joan XXIII Hospital in the city of Tarragona, the capital of the province of the same name.

He is understood to have caused his wrist wound by punching or hitting a pane of glass. Well-placed sources said his injuries were not ‘life-threatening.’

Police have not officially said yet whether they are treating the incident as a ‘domestic violence killing.’

However a spokesman for the Department of Equality and Feminisms of the Catalan regional government called the Generalitat has already condemned the crime and is referring to it as a femicide.

Police have launched an investigation after the incident at the Costa Dorada resort of Salou 70 miles south of Barcelona (Picture: SolarPix)

The department said in a tweet: ‘We are keeping tabs on the femicide in Salou.

‘We are working with the town hall and making our services available to the family and close friends of the victim who need maximum privacy at these difficult moments.’

Tania Verge, the Generalitat’s head of Equality and Feminisms, added: ‘Devastated by a new femicide. All our support to the victim’s family.

‘‘Machismo doesn’t have holidays. On the contrary when couples spend more time together the risk of suffering violence increases.’

Court officials later confirmed a court specialising in violence against women would be tasked with the criminal investigation.

They also said a secrecy order had been placed over the case, which does not prevent reporting of the incident and ongoing probe, but limits the amount of information civil servants including police can give out to media.

It is a common procedure in the early stages of a case and has the objective of legally safeguarding the ongoing criminal probe.

A local judicial official said: ‘Tarragona’s Duty Court proceeded last night to order the removal of the body of a woman who suffered a violent death at a hotel in Salou.

‘The case, which is under judicial secrecy, will be investigated by a court specialising in violence against women.

‘The victim and alleged aggressor are not residents in Spain and therefore it is not possible at this time to state whether there had been previous episodes of violence involving the couple.’

Salou Town Hall will hold a minute’s silence for the Irish woman killed last night at the four-star Magnolia Hotel.

It has already put up a banner with a black ribbon on its HQ.

The town hall said in a tweet: ‘Salou Town Hall condemns last night’s gender violence incident.

‘We urge society to participate in an act of rebuke this evening at 7pm in front of the town hall.’

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Keaton Ormerod-Beck, 25, has been jailed for over five years for multiple drug offences (Picture: Cavendish Press/Cheshire Police)

A huge stockpile of nitrous oxide was uncovered by police after they stopped a man who was taking the drug while driving his car.

Keaton Ormerod-Beck was pulled over by unmarked officers in Cheshire after they spotted him inhaling laughing gas from a blue balloon behind the wheel of his Ford Focus at 10am.

After clocking the 25-year-old’s antics on the A41 in Ellesmere Port, cops stopped and searched the car on March 27 this year.

They came across several used nos cannisters littered around the vehicle and up to £6,000 worth of cannabis resin.

Later that day, police raided a nearby lock-up belonging to Ormerod-Beck and an address he had links to in Little Sutton.

A shocking 48,0000 cannisters of the popular party drug dubbed ‘hippy crack’ were found alongside around £3,785 in cash. 

Two kilos of cocaine and drug paraphernalia was also recovered – and the combined estimated value of the illegal stash was around £61.400.

Ormerod-Beck was illegally stashing 48,000 laughing gas canisters with intent to supply (Picture: Cheshire Police)

The 25-year-old also pleaded guilty to charges relating to the supply of cocaine, ketamine and cannabis (Picture: Cavendish Press)

Ormerod-Beck, of Chester Road, Ellesmere Port, who works in the event catering and IT industry and had never been in trouble with the police before, admitted to an array of charges.

The offences included being concerned in the supply of class B drugs (ketamine) and class A drugs (cocaine), possession with intent to supply class B drugs (cannabis) and class C drugs (nitrous oxide), and not being in proper control of a vehicle.

He was sentenced to five years and four months in prison at Chester Crown Court yesterday. 

The law currently makes production, supply and importation of nitrous oxide for human consumption illegal under Psychoactive Substances Act 2016.

But the Home Office is preparing to introduce a long-expected ban on the sale or possession of nitrous oxide, one of the most popular recreational drugs among young people, as part of a wider crackdown on antisocial behaviour.

Det sgt Stuart Needham, of Cheshire Police, said Ormerod-Beck was a ‘dangerous drug dealer’ (Picture: Cavendish Press)

Detective sergeant Stuart Needham said: ‘Ormerod-Beck showed no regard for the law and put other road users at serious risk.

‘Thankfully, our officers PC Swash and PC Davies stopped him in his tracks before he caused any further damage and, in the process, uncovered thousands of pounds worth of illegal drugs in his possession.

‘This case shows the importance of the police’s power to stop and search people they suspect to be breaking the law.

‘Ormerod-Beck was previously unknown to the police and tried to operate under the radar, but thanks to stop and search powers and the due diligence of our roads policing officers, a dangerous drug dealer is now behind bars and a significant amount of illegal drugs have been removed from our streets.’

Keaton Ormerod-Beck faces five years and four months behind bars for his crimes (Picture: Cavendish Press)

He added: ‘I welcome the sentence handed to Ormerod-Beck today and I hope it demonstrates that drug dealing in Ellesmere Port or elsewhere in Cheshire will not be tolerated.

‘While this investigation has now concluded, our fight against illegal drugs, and those who supply them, continues.

‘Intelligence supplied by members of the public is crucial to this fight and I urge anyone with any information about suspected drug related activity in their community to get in touch.

‘You will be listened to, and we will investigate the matter.’

Discarded nos cylinders are a regular sight on high streets and at festivals, with almost one in ten 16 to 24 year olds admitting to taking the drug in 2019-20.

While supplying nitrous oxide for its psychoactive effects is already illegal under 2016 legislation, the gas has legitimate uses, primarily for the production of whipped cream or for freezing food, and is widely available online.

The planned change to the law would permit the gas to be possessed for legitimate reasons primarily for the production of whipped cream, for freezing food or for being used as pain relief, for example in childbirth.

But a ban is planned for recreational use and supply, which will put nitrous oxide under the same classification as cannabis.

Doctors say the gas can also cause dizziness and impaired memory, as well as accidents from leg weakness.

It can also cause neurological problems by inactivating the vitamin B12 and medics have warned about an increase in spinal cord and nerve damage caused by the drug including paralysis.

Earlier this month, a mum who crashed her car at 103mph while high on nitrous oxide and killed her friend was jailed.

And in May, a study found that the use of laughing gas as a recreational drug is causing nerve damage in teenagers and young adults.

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For more stories like this, check our news page.

K’Von Morgan was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, where he died from his injuries.