A photo of the Albanian woman who slashed the throat of an innocent seven-year-old girl can be shared for the first time since the horrifying attack.
Paranoid schizophrenic Eltiona Skana, 30, grabbed Emily Jones as she was riding her scooter through Queen’s Park in Bolton on Mother’s Day and slashed her throat, in front of her horrified parents.
Skana was known to pose a threat to youngsters by medical staff, but staff monitoring the Albanian in the community had no idea of the danger.
She pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and will be sentenced on Tuesday.
Skana entered the UK illegally in 2014 and applied for asylum, claiming she was a victim of trafficking. The Home Office initially rejected her claim but, after an appeal, reversed its decision and later granted her leave to remain until December 2024. It is not known why.
A court in Manchester heard how Skana, 30, admitted to doctors that her claim to be a trafficking victim had been a lie.
Emily’s father Mark shared his daughter’s final moments after revealing they had gone to the park to see Emily’s mum, Sarah, go out for a jog.
‘I can remember saying to Emily “Go on, you can do your fastest lap” because I used to time her from one end to another,’ Mark said in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday.
‘And then I said, “Right, we are going to see mummy and then once we’ve seen mummy we will go for an ice cream.” And she was like, “Yes, brilliant.” And that was it.’
What happened next transformed the quiet Victorian park into a scene of almost unimaginable horror and shattered Mark and his family’s lives forever.
Emily spotted Sarah, 42, running along the bottom of the hill and excitedly said: ‘Daddy, daddy. I want to go to Mum.’ Mark, 49, replied ‘Of course’ and she shot off down a path that snakes its way down the hill.
But as Emily sped towards Sarah – calling out ‘Mummy, Mummy, Mummy!’ to attract her attention – a lone figure sitting on a bench jumped up and grabbed her, put her in a headlock and cut her throat with a craft knife.
Sarah, who was wearing headphones, had not seen or heard Emily and kept running, oblivious to the appalling scene happening nearby. Mark, who was 200 yards away, initially thought his daughter had fallen off her scooter and that the figure holding Emily was helping pick her up, until a woman nearby shouted: ‘She’s been stabbed.’
He sprinted to his grievously wounded daughter but her psychotic attacker had already thrown Emily to the ground and run off. Mark cradled Emily from behind and shouted for help.
It was Mother’s Day, the day before Britain was plunged into its first coronavirus lockdown, and Emily (pictured) had given her mum a card earlier that morning
‘I ran for Emily,’ he said, leaning forward and speaking quietly. ‘I was absolutely terrified. I just knew it was so bad. You don’t survive these things.
‘I just thought, “Oh my God, I’m going to lose her, I’m going to lose her.” I was shouting, “Just stay with me Emily, stay with me. Don’t leave me.”
‘She was just trying to breathe. It was just horrific. I wouldn’t wish anybody to see that happen to their own daughter. On occasions I will go back there. I try not to. But I can just remember her trying to breathe. Just to see your child in that way. I thought, “This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening to Emily.” ‘
Unity News Network (UNN) Staff Writer | To find out more details about our staff, please head to the About Us section on our website.
