The Mail on Sunday

How was she allowed to stay here?

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CHILD killer Eltiona Skana was allowed to stay in the UK after smuggling herself into Britain in the back of a lorry and lying about being a traffickin­g victim.

Skana entered the UK illegally in 2014 and applied for asylum. 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.

The court heard it was ‘far from clear’ if this was ever passed on to immigratio­n authoritie­s. Judge

Mr Justice Wall ruled that the jury in her murder trial should not be told about Skana’s lie i n her asylum applicatio­n.

Skana grew up in the village of Gjegjan in Northern Albania.

In February 2012, she married and went to live in Kuwait but the following year she ran away and returned to Albania. In 2014, she flew to Frankfurt before then sneaking into Britain. The trip was arranged by one of her sisters.

The court heard how her mother, two sisters and brother all lived in the Bolton area. Skana had no job, no friends and spent her time having coffee with her mother. She told her psychiatri­c nurse that she wanted to become a hairdresse­r and was planning to study English and maths at college.

In September, her father told The Mail on Sunday his daughter had a

Her claim to be a victim of traffickin­g was a lie

‘hot temper’ but he claimed to not know she had been arrested in relation to Emily Jones’s killing.

Skana was first referred to mental health services in November 2014 and later diagnosed with paranoid schizophre­nia. After her arrest for killing Emily, police discovered that she had wound wire around her toes, which she told them she tightened to ‘help with her emotions’.

Emily’s father Mark last night said: ‘I am shocked that we were l ooking after t his dangerous woman with a history of violence for five years from 2015 until 2020 and with the possibilit­y of her getting legal citizenshi­p. I just think it’s absolutely bizarre.’

The Home Office refused to say why it reversed a decision to refuse her asylum. ‘We do not routinely comment on individual cases,’ a spokesman said.

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