Man who stabbed nine-year-old Lilia Valutyte in the heart guilty of murder

A man who stabbed a nine-year-old girl playing outside her mother's embroidery shop has been found guilty of murder. 

Deividas Skebas, 26, knifed Lilia Valutyte in the heart as she played with a hula hoop in Boston, Lincolnshire, on 28 July 2022.

Skebas, a Lithuanian who has schizophrenia and moved back to the UK just weeks the attack, had denied murder but admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility.

Lilia's mother, Lina Savickiene, said she had found her daughter "covered in blood and with the hoop around her".

She initially thought "something might have happened" with the hula hoop and described shouting for help while trying to cover her daughter's wounds as she became pale.

An off-duty police officer tried to help save Lilia but their efforts were unsuccessful.

Skebas was judged mentally unfit to stand trial in 2023, but that assessment changed in spring 2025 and a criminal trial began at Lincoln Crown Court last week.

Jurors were told there was no dispute he had killed Lilia but they had to decide what his state of mind was.

Prosecutors said he he had known what he was doing in stabbing Lilia - who would have been 13 this week - and tried to avoid being caught.

Opening the case, Christopher Donnellan KC told jurors: "This deliberate murder was clearly a wicked act. He knew his conduct was wrong. He knew he was killing a child."

CCTV showed Skebas buying the knife two days before, as well as circling the area and launching the fatal attack before fleeing.

The Crown Prosecution Service said the video evidence was crucial in showing his judgement was not impaired.

The killer also shaved off his beard after the murder and phone evidence showed him making arrangements to leave the UK, including asking family to lend him money to travel.

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Defence barrister Andrew Campbell-Tiech KC told the court that Skebas, who appeared via videolink from the high security Rampton Hospital, was "quite obviously deluded".

The court heard he had told police he had "the power to resurrect" Lilia if they contacted "his controller in Nasa".

Skebas was found guilty by 11-1, after over seven hours of jury deliberations. He will be sentenced on 25 February.

"During these nine years we lived life fully, we visited many places, we didn't stand still," said Lilia's mother in a statement.

"This is not something you recover from," she added.

"Sometimes terrifying thoughts overwhelm the mind and during this trial there have been many, many more."

"Why her? Why us? The questions remain unanswered," she said.

Lilia's stepfather, Aurelijus Savickas, described Lilia as a "beautiful soul" with a "strong character", adding: "Lilia, you will always live in our hearts, you are forever loved, forever missed."

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