The Misery Machine - The Case of Emily Jones

Starting point is 00:00:00 Emily Jones was born on January 18, 2013 in Bolton, which is a town in the greater Manchester area of England. Her parents were Sarah Barnes, a solicitor, and Mark Jones, a credit manager. Ultimately, the couple separated, but continued to remain on good terms in order to co-parent your young daughter together, often doing custody exchanges in local parks. Emily enjoyed attending Markland Primary School and was well-liked by both her teachers and her peers. She was a happy-go-lucky blonde with big blue eyes and a wide smile that showcased several missing baby teeth. Her father described Emily as a bit of a daredevil without a care in the world who loved the outdoors. She was a true daddy's girl and according to Mark, they were best friends.

Starting point is 00:00:45 Emily was known to be kind, inquisitive, and a bright child, and a little ball of energy. Both of her parents described her as a social butterfly who loved playing sports while donning a pink, sparkly dress. Emily's teachers described her as bubbly, smart, and funny. She was very creative and enjoyed writing and drawing. As one of her teachers recalled, Emily was keen to do her work and would joke that she had finished before the others had even written the date. As we mentioned previously, Emily's parents would frequently meet in Queens Park in Bolton during custody exchanges. Mark frequently had his daughter on Sundays, and on March 22nd, 2020 was Mother's Day in the UK, which also happened to last. on a Sunday. That day, Mark and Emily went to the park to meet up with her mother, who was

Starting point is 00:01:30 already there on her routine jog. Emily asked her father if she could ride her scooter to catch up to her mother. Sarah wasn't far away as she was jogging a short distance ahead. Emily was close enough to be seen by both of her parents. However, when she scooted away towards her mother, things quickly took a turn for the worse. Suddenly, Mark heard Emily crying up ahead. He thought she had just simply fallen off her scooter. He rushed over to find his daughter on the ground with gashes across her throat. Multiple witnesses saw a woman, who later identified as El Tiona Skana, was sitting on a nearby bench. The stranger grabbed Emily and slit her throat with a craft knife, slashing it at several times during this brutal assault. El Tiona immediately attempted to

Starting point is 00:02:16 flee the scene, but a bystander chased after her and tackled her to the ground and managed to subdue her until law enforcement arrived. The witness noted that the woman was screaming, she tried to kill me, which he interpreted as her delusional belief that Emily, as the seven-year-old child, posed a threat to her. Or into witnesses, there was no interaction or words exchanged between Eltoniskanah and Emily Jones prior to the attack. Or into one woman who appeared to have a medical background. Attempted to perform CPR on Emily. The greater Manchester police and paramedics quickly reported to the scene and attempted to resuscitate the girl. Emily was then rushed to Salford Royal Hospital, and despite the best efforts of medical staff, Emily Jones was officially pronounced dead at the hospital

Starting point is 00:02:59 that same afternoon. El Tiona was promptly arrested following the Good Samaritan's intervention. Her initial charges were suspicion of murder and possession of an illegal blade in a public place. Footage later released by the Greater Manchester Police showed her listing off the contents of her backpack, which included her identification, a bottle of water, and the bloody knife. Police eventually released the arrest video of the mentally unwell woman who killed a seven-year-olds. Hands. Turn over. The officer's getting away.

Starting point is 00:03:48 Hands. Turn over. Let me take your bag down. Yes. Yes, it's in my bag? What is? In my bag, ID, everything. 1.8.016.

Starting point is 00:04:21 This female is now in court. She has a right ID in her back, back, back, which is by the side of the five and a half. What's in your back, Pike? ID and everything. ID? Yes, and a knife. And a knife. Right, the time now is 1445.

Starting point is 00:04:55 At this moment, time you're under arrest and suspicion of attempted murder. You do not have say anything but it made me defence. We do not mention something in question that you led to a line in court in court in. If you do so, maybe giving evidence. Okay. Your rest is necessary to protect vulnerable people and to ensure a prompt an effective investigation to this offence. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:05:11 Okay. What's your name? Elth Jonas Connor. Elth you're in a corner. Okay. Where do you live? 19 turns on road. 19 turn stone?

Starting point is 00:05:24 Yes. Right, just wait there. Just confirmed you. What's inside your bag? You can control. It's just no, no bombs, no nothing. No, no. ID card. In my mom's ID card. There's a knife, some water, some juice. Okay. Nothing. Okay, that's it. So there's

Starting point is 00:05:45 nothing that's going to hurt me, no? No. Okay. El Tiona did not know Emily or her parents, and the attack was deemed by authorities to be a random act of violence. She was detained under the Mental Health Act of the United Kingdom and sent to Rampton Hospital, a high security psychiatric facility in Nottinghamshire. El Tuna was assessed following her arrest and went on to tell her attending psychiatrist, I know I'm a paranoid schizophrenic. A police sweep of her residence in Bolton revealed a month's worth of untaken antipsychotic medications. An inquest, which in the UK is an investigation performed by a coroner, was made into Emily's death on April 2nd, but it was continued into July 3rd. The proceedings, according to the coroner, were to determine whether the death of the young girl

Starting point is 00:06:31 was predictable and therefore preventable. El Tiona did not enter a plea during the first hearing and her case was transferred to Manchester Crown Court on May 26, 2020. The prosecution sought murder charges to which she denied in a hearing preceding the trial. On November 3, 2020, El Tioniskanah formerly pled guilty

Starting point is 00:06:51 to manslaughter with diminished responsibility but denied murder during a court hearing. We'll be back in just one minute. Please stick around for the following ad. it not only supports the channel, but it also supports charities in our area. This week's episode has been brought to you by Midas Merge, a unique merge game where you discover and nurture the most amazing gardens and creatures. Join King Midas and Queen Lyia on a quest to restore the gardens of gold, which were

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Starting point is 00:07:53 and explore your garden without the pressure of intense time constraints. Ready for a calming experience perfect for unwinding, then join me and download MidasMurge for free via the link in the description or by scanning my QR code. Thanks and back to the episode. The murder trial of Emily Jones began on November 26, 2020, with El Tiona appearing remotely from Rampton Hospital. It wasn't until this case was finally tried until more details regarding who El Tiona was were revealed. For starters, she was born on February 24th, 1990 in Albania. Allegedly, her father had to be able to. Allegedly, her father had a gambling debt and arranged El Tiona's marriage to a man residing in Kuwait in 2012. She ran away and fled back to Albania later that same year.

Starting point is 00:08:37 According to news sources, El Tiona fled to Frankfurt, Germany in 2014. That same year, her sister arranged for her to be smuggled into the UK via Alluree, otherwise known as a large truck. Upon arrival, she requested to remain in the country, looking to reside with her mother and sister who were already living there. El Tiona was ultimately granted asylum by the UK's home office, despite being told that she had lied on her application, claiming that she was being trafficked. During the proceedings, the prosecution sought to prove that Eltona's act was indeed murder, that her mental health conditions were a convenient excuse for her actions.

Starting point is 00:09:12 During the course of the trial, a portrait of a severely mentally ill woman with a history of psychotic relapse unraveled before the court. She told the attending psychiatrist performing her assessment at Rampton that she had been psychotic and had been seen and hearing things. It was revealed that she had gone from receiving her medication under supervision to no longer having supervision required. El Tiona had been receiving monthly injections of antipsychotic medications since 2017, but she told medics that she was beginning to deteriorate from the injections and switched to oral

Starting point is 00:09:42 administration of tablet medication. She had no face-to-face interaction with mental health care providers from December 2019 to March of 2020. Reports of the trial revealed that El Tiona had been hospitalized for psychiatric treatment three separate times and had a history of psychotic violence. She'd been committed twice for the first instance occurring in 2015 for allegedly wielding an iron against her neighbors. She was committed for the second time in 2017 after stabbing her mother in the hand. In a separate instance, she'd become aggressive towards her sister. Allegedly, a nurse at Rampton Hospital witnessed El Tiona

Starting point is 00:10:15 laughing maniacally while watching a children's television program when a child resembling Emily appeared on the screen. It was also said that El Tona had told a nurse, What am I supposed to do? Cry all the time? It's been three months. El Tiona allegedly did not appear remorseful to jurors in court itself when discussing the attack, showing indifference to the event and recounting the murder with a smirk. Reports covering the trial claim that she did supposedly show affection and attachment when describing her own family members during the court proceedings. During these proceedings, El Tionas attending psychiatrist in Rampton Hospital,

Starting point is 00:10:50 agreed with the idea put forth by the prosecution. When she did not take her medication, she became biome. This assertion was also put forth by the defense counsel. Reportedly, on July 30th, 2020, El Tiona was put into isolation after exhibiting strange behaviors and telling nurses that they were going to die, that their bodies had gone to their souls. We're not sure what she meant by that, but this was following a period of time in which El Tiona had been off her meds while it ramped it. Trial concluded on December 4th, 2020.

Starting point is 00:11:19 El Tiona was found not guilty of murder, but instead would be sentenced to her original plea of manslaughter with diminished responsibility. Following the interview of her attending psychiatrist, prosecution withdrew the murder charge, claiming there was not ample evidence to hold up a murder conviction. L. T.O. Niscona was given a life term that would be up to eight years. Now remember, they do things differently in the UK than they do here in the U.S. She would only serve the remainder in prison if her mental condition and proved enough to allow that circumstance. If she was never deemed fit to be released to prison, she would remain in the hospital indefinitely.

Starting point is 00:11:55 The judge later adjusted the sentence to 10 years and eight months, stating that the sentence was calculated in error. El Tiona put forth an appeal in 2021, and her attorneys claim that the just sentence should have been a hospital order with restrictions and that the term of the sentence should be reduced. This appeal was rejected by three senior judges in February of 2022, deeming El Tiona as significantly responsible in Emily Jones's death in spite of her mental health condition.

Starting point is 00:12:21 judges emphasized that the hybrid order be kept in place, which dictated that if El Tiona's mental health condition improved, she would serve the duration of her sentence in prison. During the course of the trial, a great deal of speculation was made by the public regarding Emily's murderer. Protesters began using Emily's school picture, claiming that the killer was not named, and there were no more details of the killer because Emily was white. Emily's parents implored protesters to cease contacting them regarding conspiracy theories and stop using Emily's photo in protests and to stop posting her photo publicly. Some rumors circulated on the internet that Emily Jones was murdered by a Somali migrant, which was ultimately debunked

Starting point is 00:13:03 after the facts of the case became public. Emily's death was met with immense support from her community and her former school, Markland Hill Primary School, set up a fundraiser to create a garden fit for a princess in early April of 2020. The fundraiser hit its goal of 5,000, British pounds within the first few hours of posting. In total, the school raised over 11,000 British pounds for the creation of this garden. Members of the community offered everything from planting flowers to woodwork to assist in the creation of the garden in honor of the little girl. Emily's mother created a GoFundMe page in support of the Bolton Lads and Girls Club that has raised nearly 29,000 pounds to date. The page states, as a family, we do not want Emily's name to be in vain.

Starting point is 00:13:50 Emily was fortunate and that she had the support in love of family and friends during her life. Both of Emily's parents describe Emily as the light of their lives. They said, Emily brought out something special in everyone who was lucky enough to be in her life. The loss of Emily has had a profound and significant impact, not just on her family, but the whole community. Emily was someone's school friend, a playmate, and of course a granddaughter and a niece, and she meant something very special and unique to each and every one of them.

Starting point is 00:14:23 Emily's father, Mark Jones, has since lobbied for mental health change in Great Britain and has been highly critical of the Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust, not wanting his daughter's untimely death to be in vain. The trust initially claimed that nothing could have been done to predict or prevent Emily's death following an inquest into her loss. Mark has called the trust's handling of the situation nothing short of shambolic. Mark has asserted that if the trust had properly cared for Eltoniscona, knowing her violent history, Emily would still be alive today.

Starting point is 00:14:58 External survey was conducted by England's National Health Service in 2022 that deemed that the Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust was wrong to conclude that nothing could have been done to prevent Emily's death. National Health Service Review called upon the trust to institute a more thorough risk policy as personalized to each patient. The findings noted that it was clear that the trust had not come. completely taking elements of Eltona's case into account, in particular, her medication regimen. The trust released a statement that they accepted the findings would promptly enact the NHS's suggestions. Emily's father continues to advocate for mental health reforms and is heavily involved in 100 families, a nonprofit organization started by a man who lost his father to a random act of

Starting point is 00:15:40 violence perpetrated by an individual well-known to have dangerous mental health issues. The purpose of this organization is to bring together families that have experienced such tragedy and put forth awareness in hopes of improving the poorly resourced state of the mental health care system in Great Britain. The death of Emily Jones, through a random act of violence, reveals deep flaws within the mental health care systems around the world. Both family and community members remember Emily as a spirited and loving little girl and through activism and memorials aforementioned. they have kept her spirit alive. As of the date of this recording in October of 2024, El Tioniskanah remains in Rampton Hospital. Emily's memorial page through her former school

Starting point is 00:16:26 is filled with former classmates, teachers, and staff remembering the spirited girl. One of them reads, What I remember about Emily is her smile. It was as big as she was, and she lit up a room. She has been tragically taken from us, but she will never be forgotten.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Emily Jones

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