A drunk clubber strangled a teenage woman and dumped her physique in a pond after she rebuffed his advances for intercourse, a choose has dominated.
Lewis Haines, 31, murdered Lily Sullivan after he met her inside a nightclub in Pembroke, west Wales, on 16 December 2022.
The pair had kissed after assembly on the nightspot Out and later went to a close-by alleyway the place they grew to become extra intimate.
Swansea Crown Court heard how the 18-year-old was discovered face down and topless in Mill Pond, a two-mile-long freshwater reservoir close to the city.
After murdering {the teenager}, Haines walked previous Ms Sullivan’s mom as she waited to select her daughter up from a close-by storage.
The father-of-one admitted to murdering Ms Sullivan, however denied sexual misconduct.
However, after a trial of info, Judge Paul Thomas QC concluded Haines had killed Ms Sullivan after she rebuffed his sexual advances.
“It is clear that Lewis Haines wanted to ensure that Lily died. His intention was to silence her,” the choose mentioned.
“He did not need anybody to know what had occurred within the lane.
“I am sure, however, having been in that lane for some time with Lily and having had intimate contact with her up to a point, Lily decided that she was going home to meet her mother.
“She made it clear from the phone call if nothing else to her mother that she did not want the intimacy between her and Lewis Haines to go as far as sexual intercourse.
“Fuelled as he was by drink, I’m certain that Lewis Haines was annoyed by this as a result of he had expectations and hopes that it might go additional.”
Haines claimed Ms Sullivan threatened to accuse him of rape, and he didn’t want his partner and family to find out.
“His account of her threatening to inform individuals what he had accomplished to her does in truth have a component primarily based in reality about it,” the judge added.
“Mr Haines had an incredible deal to lose. Reasons akin to these in my opinion clarify why he strangled Lily so as to forestall her telling individuals he had tried to get her to go additional than she was keen.”
Haines confirmed “sexual interest in Lily” from the second he met her, regardless of being “warned off more than once” by pals, in line with William Hughes QC, prosecuting.
The courtroom was advised that Haines admitted to kissing Ms Sullivan within the alleyway, the place her jacket, cell phone and tobacco have been later discovered.
The teenager known as her mom at 2.47am, nevertheless it was reduce off mid-sentence, and Mr Hughes mentioned it was the prosecution’s perception that “Lily was attacked at that point”.
He added that the sufferer’s cream-coloured lace crop prime had been “forcibly” eliminated earlier than she was pushed into the water.
John Hipkin QC, defending, mentioned there was no forensic proof of sexual contact between the pair or proof the highest had been torn from her physique.
Haines claims he tried to drag Ms Sullivan out of the water, however Judge Thomas rejected this, saying he had made no makes an attempt to save lots of her life.
The defendant, who was sporting a white shirt and had a shaved head, held a hand to his head and appeared up on the ceiling because the choose spoke.
Haines, of Flemish Court, Lamphey, shall be sentenced on Friday.
Source: information.sky.com”