Inquest hears Emily Jones would be alive if killer wasn't given asylum

Parents of seven-year-old Emily Jones whose throat was slashed by paranoid schizophrenic Albanian woman tell inquest that their daughter would still be alive if killer hadn’t been granted asylum

• Parents of Emily Jones say she would still be alive if killer wasn’t granted asylum
• Eltiona Skana charged with murder, but trial was stopped due to schizophrenia

The parents of a seven-year-old girl whose throat was slashed by a mentally ill Albanian woman as she rode her scooter say their daughter would still be alive if her killer hadn’t been granted asylum.

At the start of an inquest today probing the horrific Mother’s Day killing of seven-year-old Emily Jones, they said it should ‘vigorously’ examine how Eltiona Skana was allowed to stay in Britain.

Now 33, the paranoid schizophrenia sufferer’s trial heard she smuggled herself into Britain on the back of a lorry and claimed asylum on the grounds that she was a victim of traffickers.

She was turned down, only for the decision to be overturned on appeal.

But the Home Office has never revealed whether it was ever informed that Skana had told doctors her claim had been based on a lie – or that she had previously been suspected of wielding a knife.

Undated family handout photo issued by Greater Manchester Police of Emily Jones. Her parents say their daughter would still be alive if her killer hadn’t been granted asylum

Emily’s father Mark outside Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court in March 2020. Emily had been to the park by her father to ride her scooter and meet her solicitor mother, who was jogging

Pictured is Eltiona Skana. The paranoid schizophrenia sufferer’s trial heard she smuggled herself into Britain on the back of a lorry and claimed asylum

In a statement read to the first day of the hearing in Bolton today, Mark Jones and Sarah Barnes said: ‘If Miss Skana had not been here, Emily would still be alive.

‘The family would not want any other family to suffer in the same way.’

At the outset of proceedings, Timothy Brennand, senior coroner for Greater Manchester West, said Emily had died in ‘the most horrific and grotesque set of circumstances.’

He said the inquest would seek to establish whether ‘the tragedy of Emily’s death was predictable and therefore preventable’.

In a crime which shocked the nation, Emily was killed as she played in her local park in Bolton, Greater Manchester on Mother’s Day in 2020, March 22.

Emily had been taken there by her father to ride her scooter and meet her solicitor mother, who was jogging – the couple are separated.

On seeing Ms Barnes in the distance, Emily asked: ‘Daddy, daddy – I want to go to mum.’

But as the youngster rode past a bench, Skana – who the family had never seen before – grabbed her.

Mr Jones – who was following his daughter – initially assumed Emily had fallen off her scooter and that the stranger was helping her up.

But as he approached, he realised to his horror that she was bleeding from the neck. 

As Emily Jones (pictured) passed on her scooter, Eltiona Skana – who suffers from severe paranoid schizophrenia – quickly rose and grabbed the youngster, fatally cutting her across the neck with a craft knife she had bought earlier in the day

Emily’s father has repeatedly called for the resignation of the trust’s chief executive, Neil Thwaite. And Mr Thwaite finally announced last month that he is stepping down

An eye witness chased after Skana – who had bought a pack of craft knives from a pound shop earlier that day – and pinned her to the ground while dialling 999.

He said the killer was ‘rambling’ about the Home Office and claimed Emily had ‘tried to kill me’.

She was charged with murder, but her trial was stopped after psychiatrists said she could not have comprehended the consequences of her actions due to her paranoid schizophrenia.

As a result, prosecutors accepted her guilty plea for manslaughter by diminished responsibility.

Skana – who took part in her trial by video link from Rampton high security hospital in Nottinghamshire – was given a life sentence with a minimum of eight years.

At the time, the mental health trust which treated Skana insisted Emily’s death could not have been prevented.

That was despite her having previously hit her own mother over the head with an iron plus an incident involving a 13-year-old girl in which she was said to be carrying a knife during earlier relapses.

But Emily’s father, a credit manager at a law firm, rejected the finding, saying the truth must not be ‘brushed under the carpet’.

NHS bosses ordered an independent review which last year criticised a ‘tick box’ culture at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Trust.

Its understanding of the risks posed by Skana prior to Emily’s death was ‘poor’, it concluded.

Investigators found Skana had ‘a history of ambivalence around medication’, and that she became seriously unwell and ‘dangerous’ when she had not taken it.

They said that following the incident involving the iron it should have been ‘clear’ that ‘when unwell’, she posed ‘a risk of violence’.

The review recommended changes in the way the trust assessed the risk potentially posed by patients.

At the outset of proceedings, Timothy Brennand, senior coroner for Greater Manchester West, said Emily (pictured) had died in ‘the most horrific and grotesque set of circumstances’ 

Pictured is Mark Jones, the father of Emily Jones. Mr Jones, a credit manager at a law firm, rejected the finding, saying the truth must not be ‘brushed under the carpet’

In response, Emily’s father told the Mail on Sunday: ‘The more information I have, the worse the whole treatment plan for this woman looks.

‘This has been incredibly difficult and upsetting to learn.’

After being sectioned and repeatedly absconding from a psychiatric unit, Skana was eventually discharged and came under the care of community treatment teams.

But in 2019, she switched from injected medication to tablets, which made it harder to monitor whether she was taking her medication.

Skana’s care co-ordinator saw Skana on March 11 – just over a week before the attack on Emily.

It was the only assessment of her mental state in the three months before the killing.

Emily’s father has repeatedly called for the resignation of the trust’s chief executive, Neil Thwaite.

Mr Thwaite finally announced last month that he is stepping down after a Panorama expose of claims that patients were abused at one of its facilities, the Edenfield Centre.

Dozens of staff are currently facing disciplinary action while an independent review criticised the trust for ‘believing its own propaganda’.

Today’s proceedings heard statements given by Emily’s parents for Skana’s trial and evidence from the senior investigating officer at Greater Manchester Police, Duncan Thorpe, about whether she had been ‘stockpiling’ medication before the killing.

Police (pictured at the scene) were called to Queen’s Park in Bolton, Greater Manchester, on March 22 following reports that a child had been stabbed

The inquest heard that Skana’s medical notes recorded that she had threatened to kill a friend while believed to be armed with a knife – however a police log of her arrest made no mention of allegations of violence.

According to the notes, in February 2017 Skana absconded from the mental health unit where she was being treated and turned up ‘banging’ on the friend’s door while asking to see her 13-year-old daughter.

The notes record that she ‘threatened to kill the friend if she called police’.

At the time, Skana was believed to have a knife she had taken from a restaurant.

However Mr Thorpe, a retired detective chief inspector now working as a civilian investigator, said a police log of the event simply recorded that a ‘missing person’ had been returned to hospital.

Coroner Mr Brennand asked him if it was correct that police had no evidence that Skana was being exploited or forced to take part in sex work after smuggling herself into the country.

‘That’s correct,’ Mr Thorpe replied.

The hearing is expected to last for nine days and hear evidence on behalf of the Home Office as well as from medics who treated Skana before and after the killing.

The hearing continues. 

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