Woman who killed innocent girl, 7, in park has sentence increased after judge's mistake

 Paranoid schizophrenic Eltiona Skana, 30, was sentenced last month to life in prison for killing Emily Jones in Queen's Park, Bolton, has seen her minimum term increased

The minimum term a woman who slit the throat of a seven-year-old girl must serve has been increased after the judge said it had been "calculated in error".

Last month, paranoid schizophrenic Eltiona Skana, 30, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the killing of Emily Jones in Queen's Park, Bolton, and told she could not be considered for parole for at least eight years.

But on Monday that minimum period was upped to 10 years and eight months.

Mr Justice Wall explained in a brief hearing at Teesside Crown Court, where he is currently sitting, that he had arrived at the original figure by halving the notional determinate sentence of 16 years.

He said: "However, when I passed that sentence I had forgotten from the 1st April 2020 the law as to the minimum period to be served by a violent or sexual offender whose sentence was or exceeded seven years was two thirds and not one half of the sentence.

"Thus the minimum term which I set, and which was based on the premise that had I passed a determinate sentence the defendant would only have had to serve half her sentence before being eligible for release on parole, was calculated in error.

"It is an error to which all in court fell, for which I take full responsibility."

Skana attended the hearing via video-link from high-security Rampton Hospital where she is a patient under the Mental Health Act.

The judge had previously ruled that despite her mental illness Skana retained "a significant amount of responsibility", which merited punishment by him passing not a hospital order but a "hybrid" order, meaning the defendant will go to prison for the remainder of her sentence if her condition improves sufficiently.

Skana got up from a bench and randomly attacked Emily as she went past on a scooter calling out "Mummy! Mummy!" to her mother jogging round Queen's Park, Bolton on March 22.

The Albanian national, who first came to the UK in 2014 after claiming asylum, had a long history of mental illness and had not been taking her anti-psychotic medication.

She admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.