The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Crime film about Angus ‘head on beach’ murder
A true crime documentary around the infamous ‘head on the beach’ murder of Lithuanian Jolanta Bledaite is to air this evening.
The crime which shocked Angus just over a decade ago is part of a CBS Reality series called Murder By The Sea, a study of horrific cases around the coast of the UK.
Countrymen Alexsandras Skirda and Vitas Plytnykas were jailed for 20 and 28 years respectively for what the film brands “an act of the most incredible savagery”.
They killed 35-year-old Jolanta in a Brechin flat before dismembering her body and transporting it across Angus in plastic bags and a suitcase before throwing it into the sea at Arbroath.
The murder hunt was sparked after Jolanta’s head was discovered by two young girls playing on the Arbroath foreshore.
A trial at the High Court in Edinburgh heard she had been murdered after her killers were unable to access her bank account with her cash card in the hope of raiding it of the savings she had gathered from working on Angus farms.
Genre specialist Monster Films has produced the documentary, which is presented by Greenock-born Geoffrey Wansall, a true crime author whose books include the official biography of serial killer Fred West.
It includes testimony of a psychology expert and contributions from figures involved in the case, including Angus police detective Bob Stirling and The Courier’s Angus chief reporter Graham Brown.
“Murder By The Sea looks at why the killers may have gravitated to these areas to commit their crime – the end of the road,” said Monster Films producer Bo Channon.
The documentary airs on CBS Reality today at 10pm and will be repeated on Sunday at 11pm.