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Seven-year-old Emily Jones’ father, who was stabbed to death in a Bolton park by a stranger on Mother’s Day, has described her as “the beat of our heart, the spring in our step.”
The killer of her daughter, Eltiona Skana, 30, has been sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum of eight years.
She will initially be treated at Rampton High Security Hospital under section 45A of the Mental Health Act of 2003.
Skana had pleaded guilty to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.
Emily had been taken to Queen’s Park in Bolton by her father Mark Jones on March 22 while her mother, Sarah Barnes, jogged nearby.
As Emily was riding her scooter and calling for her mother, Skana jumped off a bench, grabbed her, and slit her throat with a knife.
In an impact statement read to Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, Jones said: “The last nine months have been spent in limbo, we cannot move on because at this time we cannot see a future.”
A murder trial in Manchester last week heard that Skana was an incurable paranoid schizophrenic who had been prescribed antipsychotic medication since attacking her own mother and sister in 2017.
Skana, who came to the UK from Albania in 2014, had not been taking her medication prior to the attack, which the court says may be a symptom of a psychiatric illness.
At the sentencing hearing, it was learned that Skana’s symptoms had worsened three months before Emily was killed and that she had tried unsuccessfully to get help.
The trial ended on Friday with Skana found not guilty of murder after the prosecution offered no further evidence and dropped the charge.
After sentencing Skana, after reading psychiatric reports and hearing evidence from a consulting psychiatrist, Judge Wall told Skana that he had deliberately purchased the craft knife with the intention of killing someone.
“He retained a real understanding of the nature of his actions … that he knew was wrong,” he said.
At the opening of the sentencing hearing, the judge said that “the people involved in the case” had been threatened online since the not guilty verdict was returned last week on his instructions.
He said he had referred the threats and the online posting of a lawyer’s contact details to the attorney general as possible contempt of court.
The judge also revealed that Greater Manchester Police are investigating a possible criminal offense after a photo of Skana was posted online, which he claimed appeared to have been taken from the court’s observation gallery.
It is illegal to take photographs on court premises.
