Deividas Skebas: Man who murdered nine-year-old Lilia Valutyte while she played outside is jailed for life

The young girl was fatally stabbed by Skebas, 26, in the town centre of Boston, Lincolnshire on July 28, 2002.

A trial was told that there was no dispute that Skebas has killed Lilia and Skebas admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. However, he was convicted of murder by a jury at Lincoln Crown Court on February 5 after the jury was told to deliberate on what his state of mind was at the time of the attack.

During his sentencing, Skebas appeared by video-link from high security facility Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire. In his sentencing remarks, Mr Justice Choudhury said that Lilia was a “happy, lively girl as carefree as any nine-year-old should be”, adding that Skebas’ crime was a “shocking and horrific act of violence”.

He added: “She should have been safe. She was playing in a pedestrianised area and just yards away from her mum.”

Mr Justice Choudhury also said that Skebas’s frequent use of cannabis and amphetamines had “likely” worsened his schizophrenic state.

Skebas, who is originally from Lithuania, had told police that he was being controlled by NASA at the time of the fatal stabbing. He has initially been deemed unfit to stand trial but it was later argued that while his deteriorating mental state was genuine, he knew what he was doing at the time he killed Lilia as evidenced by his attempt to avoid detection by shaving his head and hiding the murder weapons, and his intention to flee the country.

Representing the Crown’s case against Skebas, Christopher Donnellan KC told jurors last month: “This deliberate murder was clearly a wicked act. He knew his conduct was wrong. He knew he was killing a child.”

Mr Donnellan added at his sentencing on Wednesday morning: “This was a particularly vulnerable victim, a young girl aged nine. The offence took place with a degree of planning or premeditation.”

Jurors previously heard that Skebas has prowled the area until it was quite before launching his attack on Lilia, who was playing with a hula-hoop outside her mother’s embroidery shop. The young girl’s mother, Lina Savickiene, found her daughter “covered in blood and with the hoop around her”.

Aurelijus Savickas, Ms Savickinene’s husband, said on the days of Skebas’ conviction: “This is not something you recover from.

“Sometimes terrifying thoughts overwhelm the mind and during this trial there have been many, many more. Why her? Why us? The questions remain unanswered.”

Skebas was arrested two days after the murder. He was later transferred to hospital after his mental health was deemed to be “declining”. He has told detectives that he had eaten a piece of rice that he actually believed to be a microchip and that he was the “power to resurrect” Lilia if officers contacted his “controlled in NASA”.

CCTV of the attack was shown to jurors during the trial, depicting the moment that Lilia could be seen playing with the hula hoop toy as Skebas watched her from the end of Fountain Lane before running towards her. The force of the attack knocked the young girl back into the shutters of her mother’s shop.

Defence barrister Andrew Campbell-Tiech KC said Skebas remains dangerous “not merely to himself but in the absence of medication… a danger to others”. He added: “This young man has been subject to a serious and dangerous condition for many, many years.”