Woman who slashed girl's throat was allowed in UK, inquest hears

Paranoid schizophrenic Albanian woman who slashed seven-year-old girl’s throat at random was allowed to stay in UK despite Home Office being told she’d lied about being trafficked on three occasions, inquest hears

• Eltiona Skana, 33, slashed seven-year-old Emily Jones’s throat in Bolton in 2020

A mentally ill Albanian woman who slashed a seven-year-old girl’s throat had been given refugee status despite the Home Office being told she’d admitted lying about being trafficked on at least three occasions, an inquest heard today.

Eltiona Skana, 33, was initially refused asylum after smuggling herself into Britain in the back of a lorry.

But for reasons which have never previously been revealed, after lodging an appeal she was told she was being allowed to stay.

Tragically, just three months later, in a crime which shocked the nation, the paranoid schizophrenia sufferer launched a deadly attack on little Emily Jones as she rode her scooter through the park.

Her parents have said their daughter would still be alive if her killer hadn’t been granted asylum.

Eltiona Skana, 33, (pictured) was initially refused asylum after smuggling herself into Britain in the back of a lorry. After lodging an appeal she was told she was being allowed to stay

Three months later, in a crime which shocked the nation, the paranoid schizophrenia sufferer launched a deadly attack on little Emily Jones, seven, (pictured) as she rode her scooter through the park

They have demanded that the inquest probing her senseless killing in Bolton, Greater Manchester on Mother’s Day in 2020 ‘vigorously’ examines how Skana was allowed to stay.

Today it heard how while Skana was seeking asylum, she told police, hospital staff and a psychiatrist that she had made up her account of being a victim of sexual exploitation to boost her chances of winning refugee status.

But senior asylum case worker Samuel Price said the ‘weight’ that was attached to Skana’s admissions was limited because of her mental health problems.

Her asylum claim was refused in June 2018 – however the Home Office later dropped its opposition to her appeal after concluding the original decision had been ‘fundamentally wrong’.

While it abandoned the case in January 2019, Skana wasn’t informed she had been given refugee status until December – just three months before she attacked Emily at random on March 22, 2020.

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

As Emily Jones (pictured) passed on her scooter, 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

The hearing was told that after being arrested for attacking her mother with an iron in February 2017, Skana told police she had lied about being trafficked in order ‘to remain in the UK’ and wanted to go back to Albania.

Mr Price confirmed that her confession was ‘considered’ as part of her asylum application, but was disregarded as it came just before she was sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

He said the Home Office dropped its opposition to Skana’s appeal after accepting it would not be safe for a victim of trafficking to be sent back to Albania.

Timothy Brennand, senior coroner for Greater Manchester West, asked whether the actual credibility of her trafficking claim was taken into account this time.

‘There was no consideration given to that,’ Mr Price replied.

He said asylum rules meant only issues covered by a refusal letter could be addressed in an appeal.

Lawyer Sefton Kwasnik, representing Emily’s father Mark, highlighted how medical notes from 2015 showed Skana said her trafficking claim was ‘a lie to come to England’.

READ MORE: Grieving father calls for NHS chief to quit over failures that let his seven-year-old daughter’s mentally ill killer roam free 

Also that year she told a psychiatrist she had ‘lied to the Home Office to gain entry to this country,’ he added.

Asked whether he accepted this information ‘ought to have been and probably was’ available when her asylum claim was first considered, Mr Price answered: ‘Yes I would agree with that.’

Richard O’Brien, representing the Home Office, suggested Skana’s medical notes suggested she later ‘recanted’ her claim to have lied.

Earlier Dr Pavan Chahl, an independent psychiatrist who reviewed Skana’s care, said it was clear that while ‘unwell’, Skana posed a risk to others.

But he stressed it would not have possible to detain her indefinitely, and that it was the responsibility of her community medical team to assess whether she was at risk of relapse.

The inquest was told Skana claimed to have been sexually exploited in Kuwait in 2012, smuggling herself into Britain in 2014.

Her trial heard her mental state was only assessed once in the three months before the killing, and searches of her flat revealed she hadn’t been taking her anti-psychotic medication.

Earlier in the day she had bought a pack of craft knives from a pound shop earlier that day, with witnesses describing her ‘rambling’ about the Home Office and claiming Emily had ‘tried to kill me’.

Skana is now serving a life sentence in a secure mental hospital after her guilty plea to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility was accepted by the prosecution.

The hearing continues.

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