Police issue statement at end of trial of facts into fatal stabbing of nine-year-old Lilia Valutyte in Boston

Deividas Skebas, 23, of Thorold Street, Boston. Picture: Lincolnshire Police

Lincolnshire Police has issued a statement following the conclusion of the trial of facts into the fatal stabbing of nine-year-old Lilia Valutyte in Boston last year.

The jury at Lincoln Crown Court was told how Deividas Skebas, 23, had approached Lilia as she played in the street with another girl before stabbing her once in the chest and leaving the scene.

Lilia was in Fountain Lane, Boston, at around 6.20pm on July 28, when she was stabbed. She was given immediate medical aid at the scene, which continued at Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital. Sadly, she was confirmed to have died from the injury by staff at Boston Pilgrim Hospital, a spokesman for Lincolnshire Police said.

Skebas, of Thorold Street, Boston, was arrested outside his former address at around 2.45pm two days later following a public appeal. He was charged with murder in the evening of July 31 and remanded into custody.

The jury has now accepted the facts of the incident following the two-day hearing.

High Court Judge, Justice McDowan, who presided over the trial, has now placed an indefinite order with restriction for Skebas to stay at a high security hospital. This means he can only be released or moved on the authority of the Secretary of State for Justice.

The details were heard during a finding of fact hearing at Lincoln Crown Court. The court had previously concluded that the defendant was not competent to participate in criminal proceedings on the basis of the reports of three forensic psychiatrists. This week’s hearing was to determine whether the defendant had been responsible for the injury which led to Lilia’s death.

The findings today do not attribute any criminal culpability, for example a charge of murder. Should Skebas be found to have made a sufficient recovery to participate in a criminal trial at a future date, it will be possible for criminal proceedings to recommence, the spokesman added.

Lead investigator Det Chief Inspector Jennifer Lovatt from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU), said: “This has been a heartbreaking case that has profoundly affected many people, from the officers in force, to the wider community and further afield. But mostly, the impact has been felt by Lilia’s family, who approach the one-year anniversary of her death. Our thoughts continue to be with Lilia’s family at this exceptionally difficult time and we ask that their privacy is respected.”