9-year-old girl stabbed to death in Lincolnshire, UK - violent crime highest in 20 years

Sky News
Fri, 29 Jul 2022 20:29 UTC

Lilia Valutyte was found dead in Fountain Lane in Boston on 28 July

Lilia Valutyte, who was part of Boston's Lithuanian community, was found stabbed in a street in the town on Thursday.

A nine-year-old girl stabbed to death in Lincolnshire has been named by police as Lilia Valutyte.

The girl, a Lithuanian national, was found dead in Fountain Lane in Boston at about 6.20pm yesterday.

Two people have been arrested as part of a murder investigation, following what police are calling the "isolated incident".

Lincolnshire Police Chief Superintendent Kate Anderson, said: "Our thoughts continue to be with Lilia's family and friends."

The senior officer had described the nine-year-old's death as an "utter tragedy".

Lilia's parents are being supported by specially trained officers.

Those who wish to leave flowers and tributes can leave them at the corner of Fountain Lane and Fountain Place, police said.

Home Secretary Priti Patel described the incident as "appalling".

Flags are flying at half-mast around Boston and Paul Skinner, leader of the borough council, said the town was "united in mourning".

Matt Warman, the Conservative MP for Boston and Skegness, said he had been in contact with the policing minister to ensure national assistance is available to the murder investigation.

Writing on Twitter on Thursday evening, he said: "Profoundly shocking news in Boston this evening.

"I have spoken to senior officers locally and am hugely grateful for all the emergency services' work.

"I have also been in contact with policing minister Tom Pursglove to ensure that any national help that might be useful is made available as quickly as possible."

Comment: More from the Daily Mail on the case and the soaring knife crime and spike in child murders in the UK:

The UK is in the grip of a knife crime epidemic, with the latest figures for England and Wales showing offences involving knives are up by 10 per cent compared to the previous year.

And there's good reason to believe that lockdowns have had a significant impact on that increase, both in torturing children mentally and emotionally, as well by further impoverishing families.

This weekend saw a wave of stabbings in London that saw three people killed in less than 24 hours and another badly injured.

'We have arrested two people in connection with the incident.

Lilia's body was found outside MS Agricultural Services along a quiet lane next to quaint cobbled streets lined with cafes and coffe shops.

Much of the nearby area is commercial, with car parks, a high street and several boarded-up shops, but the street also runs alongside the end of a residential road.

The local community was in a state of shock as they came to terms with the tragic news late on yesterday evening, with heartbroken residents calling it the 'most shocking tragedy ever to befall' the town.

Arthur Smith, 66, who knelt down to say a prayer at the scene said: 'It is just so shocking. A poor little angel has lost her life. I feel so sorry for her and her parents.

'Whoever did it should be locked up for life - and I mean life. When I was growing up, you could never imagine something like this happening.'

Other residents said they had seen armed police in nearby streets last night as police launched their investigation into the death of the girl.

Taxi driver Jonathan Newton, 55, said: 'We are a close knit community here and the town is rocked to the core by this tragedy.

Figures reveal how knife crime rate has shot up

Last week it emerged police forces in England and Wales had recorded the highest number of offences in 20 years, driven by a sharp rise in fraud, rape and violent attacks.

A total of 6.3million crimes were recorded in the year to March 2022 ⁠ — four per cent higher than the previous all-time high of 6.1million in 2019/20.

It was also up 16 per cent on 2020/21, when crime levels were affected by Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

The figures, which were published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), showed knife crime, theft and domestic abuse all increased in the 12 months to March.

Police-recorded offences of fraud and computer misuse rose 17 per cent, from 828,364 in 2020/21 to 965,162 in 2021/22.

Knife crime rose by 10 per cent to 49,027 offences in the year to March, compared to 44,642 in the previous 12 months ⁠ — though this is below the pre-pandemic year of 2019/20, which saw 55,078 offences.

Edgar Buncis, whose young son Roberts was murdered in Boston nearly two years ago, has told how the schoolgirl's family will be going through 'hell' as he urged them to 'be strong.'

Roberts was stabbed more than 70 times in a frenzied attack just days before his 13th birthday. Marcel Grzeszcz, 15, was convicted of Roberts' murder and jailed for a minimum of 16 years last November.

Today Mr Buncis has today begged for answers after the latest tragedy.

He said: 'Dear family, you will go through the hell, be strong, take any help you can get.

'My son was stabbed to death 12/12/2020 and I still live with that and think it never will end. It's so sad.

'Where are we going, what is wrong with this world, what is wrong with Boston ... I would tell you thousands of words but don't know what to say ... be strong, love those who you have.'

'Lincolnshire Police has launched a murder inquiry and Boston Borough Council is working closely with officers as part of the investigation, including the sharing of CCTV footage from the area.

Home Office figures from 2016 found Boston was the murder capital of England and Wales.

Boston came top of a list of the local authorities with the most cases of murder, attempted murder or conspiracy to commit murder per 100,000 people.

There was a rate of 15 murderous crimes per 100,000 people up to September 2015 - ranking as the highest per person average in England and Wales and rivalling huge cities such as Birmingham or London.

© Yandex

Boston pinned on a map

And the overall crime rate in the town for 2021 was recorded as 100 crimes per 1,000 people, making it among the most dangerous in Lincolnshire.

The chilling number of child murders in the UK in the last year

Ava White - 25 November 2021 - was just 12 years old when she was stabbed to death in Liverpool City Centre in November last year. But she was stabbed by a 14-year-old boy after an argument about him filming her. As she went towards him to get him to delete the footage he lashed out with a knife, stabbing her in the neck.

Zaian Aimable-Lina - 30 December 2021, 15, (below) suffered three stab wounds in Ashburton Park in Croydon, south London.
A 15-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of murder.

Kennie Carter - 22 January 2022 - Officers were called to Thirlmere Avenue, in Stretford, to reports a boy had been found with stab injuries. He was later named locally as Kennie Carter.

Jakub Szymanski - 9 June 2022 - was branded a 'hero' who 'fought for his family' after stepping in to to save his mother, Katarzyna Bastek, who was left 'seriously injured' following an attack in Miles Platting, Manchester.

David-Mario Lazar - 25 January 2022 - Five year old David-Mario Lazar was killed while in the care of one of the people meant to look after him - his grandmother.