On Mother’s Day, the 22nd of March, 2020, a 7-year-old girl called out to her father in a Bolton Park, “Daddy, daddy, I want to go to mom.” Those were Emily Grace Jones’s last words before a stranger grabbed her off her scooter and ended her life in seconds.

This is the story of a preventable tragedy.

A story of catastrophic failures across Britain’s mental health system, immigration enforcement, and community care.

A story where warning signs were ignored, dangerous behavior was downplayed and a child paid the ultimate price.

Welcome to Cold Case Desk.

I’m bringing you the comprehensive investigation into how Emily Jones died, who killed her, and why the systems designed to protect the public failed so spectacularly.

This case sparked national outrage and exposed what a coroner would later describe as a mental health sector in crisis.

If you appreciate in-depth true crime documentaries that examine not just what happened, but why it happened, please hit that like button and subscribe to Cold Case Desk and share this video because Emily’s father, Mark Jones, is fighting to make sure his daughter’s death drives real change.

Let’s get into it.

Emily Grace Jones was born on the 18th of January, 2013 in Bolton, Greater Manchester.

She was the only child of Mark Jones, a credit manager, and Sarah Barnes, a solicitor.

Her parents had separated when Emily was around 3 years old, but they maintained a strong co-parenting relationship.

They lived just 5 minutes apart in the Dococker area of Bolton.

Emily attended Marklin Hill Primary School.

Her head teacher, Louise Close, would later describe her as bubbly, sociable, and a joy to be around.

Teachers said Emily’s smile was infectious and lit up the room.

She loved to draw and write stories, and she had a running joke with her teachers.

She’d finish her work before her classmates had even written the date.

Emily was a whirlwind of energy, swimming, tennis, riding her scooter through local parks, often wearing her signature pink sparkly dresses.

Mark Jones told investigators his daughter was full of life and loved to play any sport.

Her parents called her their own little social butterfly.

Never happier than when surrounded by family and friends.

The family tribute released after Emily’s death captured who she was.

Emily was the beat in our hearts, the spring in our step, and the reason we got up every morning.

She was always full of joy, love, and laughter.

Emily had such a cheeky smile and was beautiful inside and out.

She had a heart as big as her smile.

Remember that description because in a moment I’m going to tell you how Emily’s life was stolen from her.

Mother’s Day in the United Kingdom falls in March.

On Sunday the 22nd of March 2020, Mark Jones took his daughter to Queens Park in the Heaton area of Bolton so she could ride her scooter.

Sarah Barnes, Emily’s mother, was jogging around the park wearing headphones.

They’d arranged to meet there.

It was a perfect spring day.

Families everywhere, children playing, the kind of ordinary Sunday that should have been completely safe.

But while Emily was enjoying the sunshine, a 30-year-old woman named Eliona Scana was making preparations.

Around 1:00 that afternoon, Scana left her flat on Turnstone Road in Bolton.

She walked into Bolton Town Center, entered Crompton Place Shopping Center, and purchased a pack of three craft knives from a pound shop.

CCTV captured her walking through the streets before heading toward Queen’s Park.

When she arrived at the park, Scanna sat alone on a wooden bench near a pedestrian path.

A witness named Ian Robinson noticed her.

Years later at trial, prosecutor Michael Brady would describe Robinson’s testimony.

His attention was drawn to Scana because of what he called her agitated demeanor.

She had a vacant look on her face.

She didn’t appear with it and didn’t seem to fit into her surroundings.

Another witness, Hassan, also saw Scana lying on the bench.

Then she stood up.

At approximately 2:15 in the afternoon, Emily spotted her mother jogging in the distance.

She turned to her father and said, “Daddy, daddy, I want to go to mom.” Mark Jones let his daughter go ahead.

Emily scooted off, calling out, “Mommy, mommy.” But Sarah couldn’t hear her.

She was too far away and she had headphones in.

As Emily rode past the bench where Scana was sitting, Scannah stood up, pulled her hood up, and grabbed Emily from behind.

Prosecutor Michael Brady would later tell the court.

In one movement, she grabbed Emily and slit her throat with the craft knife, then threw her to the ground.

There had been no interaction between Emily and Scana.

None.

A complete stranger.

A random attack.

The wound was unservivable.

During the attack, Scana screamed, “She tried to kill me.” A statement that was later described at the inquest as a delusional reference to Emily.

Mark Jones heard his daughter crying.

He initially thought she’d fallen from her scooter.

As he got closer, he noticed blood.

A woman in front of him shouted, “Your daughter’s been stabbed.

Your daughter’s been stabbed.” Mark ran to Emily and cradled her from behind, shouting frantically for help.

He would later describe the scene as horrendous, like something out of a horror movie.

A member of the public took off his shirt and handed it to Mark to try to stop the bleeding.

Someone Mark believed was a trained nurse took over first aid.

Meanwhile, a man named Tony Kanty had witnessed the attack.

Kenny was walking in the park with his wife Lindsay and their baby daughter.

He saw Scana manhandling and screaming at Emily before pushing her to the ground.

When Scana tried to flee, Kenny handed his baby to his wife and chased after her.

Kenny caught up to Scannah, tackled her to the ground, and held her there until police arrived.

Scana was rambling and raving, mentioning the home office, her family, injections, and other incoherent statements.

She said, “I’m a girl.

I’m a child.” At this point, Kenny still didn’t realize how serious Emily’s injuries were.

He hadn’t seen a knife.

He had no idea a 7-year-old girl was dying just meters away.

Police were called to Queen’s Park at approximately 2:35 in the afternoon.

Emily was rushed by air ambulance to Sulford Royal Hospital.

Paramedics worked desperately to save her life, but Emily had suffered cardiac arrest.

Despite every effort from first responders and hospital staff, Emily Grace Jones was pronounced dead at 356 that afternoon.

The cause of death, an insized wound to the neck.

Sarah Barnes, still jogging with her headphones, had no idea what had happened.

When she found out her daughter had been attacked, she rushed to the scene.

She was described as inconsolable.

Later, she would be at Emily’s bedside when her daughter was pronounced dead.

This wasn’t just a murder.

This was a preventable tragedy.

And to understand how preventable it was, we need to talk about the woman who killed Emily.

Eliona Scana was born on the 24th of February 1990 in Albania.

According to testimony from her sister, Clustera, at the 2023 inquest, Eliona had been forced to marry a man by her father in February 2012.

The marriage was to settle a debt.

After the wedding, Eliona moved to Kuwait with her husband.

She returned to Albania in September 2013.

Clustera told the court that Eliona became depressed and withdrawn after returning.

Then on the 13th of August 2014, Scana entered the United Kingdom illegally.

Her sister Clustera had paid an agent to transport Eliona through Germany, Italy, and France.

Eliona was smuggled into Britain in the back of a Lori.

Once in the UK, Scana claimed asylum.

She told authorities she was a victim of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

This was a lie.

She would later admit to doctors and police that she made up this story to improve her chances of staying in the country.

Her asylum application was initially refused in June 2018, but Scana appealed and the decision was overturned.

She was granted a residency permit lasting until November 2020 and leave to remain until 2024.

Scana initially lived in London, then Liverpool, before eventually settling in Bolton.

And this is where her mental health began to unravel.

In July 2015, just one year after arriving in Britain, Scanna was found holding a knife outside her home, shouting at an elderly neighbor.

Her sister Cluster found her in the street in the middle of the night screaming and claiming she could hear voices.

Scanna was detained under the mental health act and admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

Doctors diagnosed her with acute schizophrenia-ike psychotic symptoms which was later confirmed as paranoid schizophrenia.

A later NHS England report would state it was clear from the incident in 2015 that when unwell, Miz posed a risk of violence.

This was well understood by those who treated her in hospital.

However, insufficient attention was given to this risk subsequently.

Read that again.

They knew she was violent when unwell.

They knew in 2015, 5 years before she killed Emily Jones.

During this hospitalization, Scana developed delusional beliefs that her neighbors were using electricity to harm her.

She disconnected the electricity to her boiler.

She removed light bulbs from her flat.

She threw out her television, claiming it was transmitting her neighbors voices into her head.

She was eventually released back into the community on medication.

In February 2017, Scana’s condition escalated to physical violence against her own family.

Scanna locked her mother in a bedroom by chaining the door shut.

Then she hit her mother over the head with an iron and stabbed her in the hand.

Cluster had to break down the door after hearing their mother shout for help.

Scana was sectioned again, meaning she was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital under the Mental Health Act.

During this hospitalization, Scana absconded from the ward.

After escaping, she tried to obtain a knife.

Then she went to a friend’s house and asked to see their teenage daughter who was around 13 years old.

This incident was documented in internal NHS records.

But here’s the critical failure.

This information about Scana posing a threat to a child was never communicated to the community mental health team that would later oversee her care.

Let that sink in.

The people responsible for monitoring Scana in the community had no idea she had previously tried to access a teenager.

After this incident, Scana also told hospital staff she had cut her hair off rather than cutting off people’s heads.

Scana was hospitalized for the third time in 2018 before being discharged back into community care.

From 2017 onward, Scanna had been receiving monthly depot injections of antiscychotic medication.

This is critical.

Depot injections meant that healthare workers physically administered the medication.

There was no way for Scana to skip doses or stop taking her medication without the healthcare team knowing about it.

But in August 2019, 7 months before Emily Jones would be killed, everything changed.

Consultant psychiatrist Dr.

Raj Dongi agreed to switch Scanner’s medication from Depot injections to oral tablets.

Scanna had requested this change, claiming the tablets made her less paranoid.

Here’s the problem.

Scann’s care coordinator, Victoria Fagan, was not consulted on this decision, and when she found out about it, she did not agree with it.

Fagan told Dr.

Dongi that switching to oral medication would make it much harder to monitor whether Scana was actually taking her medication.

The NHS England report that came out after Emily’s death stated it was not certain whether the consultant psychiatrist who authorized the switch properly understood the risk involved.

Sister Clustera would later testify that Eliona rarely took her medication after the switch to tablets.

Cluster observed her sister cutting tablets in half.

I was completely sure she did not take her medication properly, cluster said.

And here’s the kicker.

Nobody at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust knew any of this.

They had no idea Scana had stopped taking her medication.

After Scanner’s arrest, police searched her flat.

They found approximately 1 month’s worth of untaken antiscychotic medication.

In the 100 days before the attack, Scanner received only one face-to-face visit from her mental health workers.

one visit in over 3 months.

In January 2020, Scanner’s care coordinator, Victoria Fagan, went on sick leave for a month.

Her absence was not properly covered.

When Fagan returned, she saw Scana on the 11th of March, 2020, just 11 days before Emily would be killed.

Fagan reported no concerns about Scana’s mental health during this visit.

The notes from this meeting were not entered promptly into the computer system.

Fagan later explained she prioritized writing up notes for patients she was most worried about before going on holiday.

Scano wasn’t considered high- risk despite her history of violence despite her documented threats toward a child, despite her known pattern of not taking medication.

On the 20th of March 2020, just 2 days before the attack, Sister Cluster took Eliona to Bentley House, a mental health service in Bolton.

Cluster was deeply concerned about her sister’s deteriorating mental health.

She had witnessed Eliona not sleeping at night, showering and straightening her hair at 3:00 in the morning, cutting her medication tablets in half.

Cluster wanted her sister placed back on injection medication.

They arrived at Bentley House.

They waited in the waiting room.

45 minutes passed.

No doctor arrived.

Eliona got up and walked out of the waiting room.

Just left.

This was not followed up by any healthcare worker.

Nobody called, nobody checked, nobody seemed to care that a woman with a documented history of violence and psychosis had walked out of a mental health clinic.

2 days later, Emily Jones would be dead.

Back at Queens Park, police arrived and arrested Eliona Scana.

Bodyworn camera footage captured the exchange.

Officer, what’s in your backpack? Scanna, ID and everything? Yes, and a knife.

After her formal arrest, Scana was asked again about her bag contents.

She said, “No bombs, no nothing.

Just my ID and my mom’s ID card.

There is a knife, some water, some juice, nothing.” The bloodied craft knife was recovered from her backpack.

Forensic analysis confirmed it contained Emily’s blood.

Scanno was examined by Dr.

Santhini Frell, who monitored her with a team of five medics.

Scana told the doctor, “I know I’m a paranoid schizophrenic.” Dr.

Frell described Scannah as clean and well-kemp, maintaining fixed, staring eye contact.

Scannah told psychiatrist she had been psychotic, hearing, and seeing things.

She claimed she was perfectly normal before arriving in the UK.

Scana was detained under the Mental Health Act and transferred to Rampton Secure Hospital, a highsecurity psychiatric facility in Nottingham Shere.

On the 20th of May 2020, Greater Manchester Police formally named and charged Eliona Scana with murder and possession of a bladed article.

For Emily’s parents, the nightmare was just beginning.

The family released a statement.

We are beyond devastated that this random act of violence means we will never get to see our beautiful little girl grow up into the wonderful young lady she was showing such promise of becoming.

It is truly heartbreaking to wake up to a world without Emily in it and we cannot comprehend why this has happened.

They thanked the members of the public who assisted in the park and expressed gratitude to the emergency services for doing their utmost to save Emily’s life.

The community was in shock.

Teachers from Marklin Hill Primary School were heartbroken.

The head mistress paid tribute.

I want you to know how much Emily was loved.

She will be missed by all her friends and all the staff.

Her loss has left a hole in our hearts and the school will never be the same again.

On the 26th of May 2020, Eliona Scana appeared via video link at Manchester and Sulford Magistrate’s Court.

She did not enter a plea and was remanded in custody while psychiatric reports were prepared.

The case proceeded to crown court.

On the 6th of November 2020, Scana appeared for a plea hearing.

And here’s where things got complicated.

Scana pleaded not guilty to murder, but she pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

For those unfamiliar with UK law, let me explain the difference.

Murder requires proof that the defendant intended to kill or cause serious harm and had the mental capacity to form that intent.

Manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility means the defendant’s mental illness substantially impaired their ability to understand their actions or exercise self-control.

The key question, was Scannah so mentally ill that her responsibility for Emily’s death was diminished? Or was she using her history of mental illness as, in the prosecutor’s later words, a convenient excuse behind which to hide? The judge granted a 7-day adjournment for the prosecution to consider whether to accept the manslaughter plea or proceed to a full murder trial.

The prosecution decided to push forward.

They wanted Scana convicted of murder.

The trial took place from the 26th of November to the 4th of December 2020 at Mitchell Street Crown Court in Manchester.

Presiding Mr.

Justice Wall, prosecuting Michael Brady, Queen’s Council.

defending Simon Soka, Queen’s Council.

The prosecution’s case was built on evidence of premeditation and awareness.

They argued that Scannon knew exactly what she was doing, that she planned the attack, and that she should be held fully responsible.

The prosecution presented several key pieces of evidence.

First, CCTV footage showing Scana purchasing the craft knives earlier on the day of the attack.

This suggested planning.

Second witness testimony about Scana’s behavior in the park.

She was sitting on a bench with an agitated vacant demeanor.

She stood up, pulled her hood up, and grabbed Emily as the child scooted past.

This suggested she was lying in weight.

Third, Scanner’s attempt to flee the scene.

After attacking Emily, she ran.

She only stopped because Tony Canny tackled her to the ground.

This suggested consciousness of guilt.

But the most damning evidence came from Rampton Secure Hospital where Scana was being held.

Jonathan Pettit, a psychiatric nurse and team leader at Rampton Hospital, testified about conversations he’d had with Scana.

Pettit revealed that Scana had told him, “I killed someone.

That’s the reason why I’m here.

It was premeditated.

I waited in the park.

I picked my victim and I killed somebody and tried to run away.” Premeditated.

Pick my victim.

Those were Scan’s own words.

In another conversation, Scana said, “Like I said, it’s been 3 months.

What do you want me to do? Cry all the time?” The prosecution argued this showed Scana understood exactly what she had done and was manipulating the system by claiming diminished responsibility.

The defense called Dr.

John Crosby, a consultant psychiatrist, who testified that Scana had a partial defense to murder because she was suffering an abnormality of mental functioning at the time of the attack.

Dr.

Crosby explained that paranoid schizophrenia can cause delusions, hallucinations, and a complete break from reality.

He argued that scanner’s actions were driven by psychotic beliefs, not rational planning.

But the most influential testimony came from Dr.

Siad Afghan, the consultant forensic psychiatrist treating Scana at Rampton Hospital.

Dr.

Afghan testified there was ample evidence that Scana had paranoid schizophrenia.

He described observing Scana’s behavior at the hospital, which painted a disturbing picture of her mental state.

During Scana’s detention at Rampton, it was mutually agreed to discontinue her antiscychotic medication temporarily to establish a baseline for assessing her mental health.

What happened next was chilling.

Hospital staff observed Scano watching television.

A girl who resembled Emily Jones appeared on screen.

Scana began laughing hysterically.

In another incident, Scana became enraged.

Staff described her as frothing at the mouth.

Dr.

Afghan resumed antiscychotic medication on the 16th of October, 2020 because Scanner’s mental state had deteriorated so dramatically.

Under cross-examination, Dr.

Afghan confirmed violence while under psychosis.

While she’s been psychotic, she’s been violent.

Yes.

He stated there were no alternative theories to explain Scanner’s actions besides psychosis from paranoid schizophrenia.

After hearing Dr.

Afghan’s testimony, something remarkable happened.

On the 4th of December, 2020, the final day of the trial, prosecutor Michael Brady stood up and made an announcement.

Having reviewed all the evidence in this case, the crown has come to the conclusion that there is no longer any realistic prospect of conviction for murder.

The prosecution was withdrawing the murder charge.

Brady told the court, “It is not a decision that has been taken lightly by the crown.

It’s a decision taken with care and mindful of the sensitivity of the case.” The trial judge directed the jury to formally return a not guilty verdict on the murder charge.

Eliona Scana was now convicted only of manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.

On the 8th of December 2020, Mr.

Justice Wall delivered his sentence.

He began by acknowledging the devastating impact on Emily’s family.

The devastating effects of what you did will live with Emily’s parents and doubtless others who knew Emily forever.

It is obvious that nothing I can do or say can restore Emily to her family or offer any real comfort to them in their immense loss.

The judge then addressed Scanna directly.

The facts of this case are chilling.

The background to the killing is your enduring mental health condition.

But here’s the crucial finding.

Mr.

Justice Wall determined that despite her mental illness, Scanner retained a significant amount of responsibility for Emily’s death.

The judge noted several factors.

First, Scana had purchased the knife that morning.

Second, she had gone to the park and waited on a bench.

Third, she attempted to flee after the attack.

Fourth, she had concealed from healthare workers that she was not taking her medication.

The judge stated, “I am satisfied on the basis of the evidence given that you suffer from paranoid schizophrenia.

The nature and degree of it warrants your detention in hospital.

However, you also require punishment because of the element of culpability involved.” Mr.

Justice Wall imposed a section 45, a hybrid order.

This is a life sentence that combines hospital detention with imprisonment.

Here’s how it works.

Scana would be detained at Rampton Secure Hospital and treated for her mental illness.

If and when doctors determined she was mentally well enough to leave the hospital, she would be transferred to prison to serve the remainder of her sentence.

The minimum term before eligibility for release was set at 8 years.

The judge concluded, “If you are never deemed fit for release, you will remain in hospital or prison for the remainder of your days.” Mark Jones was present in court for the sentencing.

His reaction was one of anger and frustration.

In a statement read to the court, Mark said, “Emily was a vulnerable child full of innocence and wonder.

She was just starting off on her path of life and her future was cut short.

Our future has also been taken away.

How can we enjoy life when the best part of it has been taken away?” He described what happened to Emily as a public outrage.

After the sentencing, Mark told reporters she had some capacity.

Not full capacity, but she had some capacity.

She knew what was right from wrong, and she picked someone vulnerable, which was my beautiful daughter.

8 years before eligibility for release seemed like a slap in the face.

But the story didn’t end there.

On the 26th of January, 2021, Mr.

Justice Waldah Ed called everyone back to court.

The judge admitted he had made a calculation error.

He explained, “When I passed that sentence, I had forgotten that from the 1st of April, 2020, the law as to the minimum period to be served by a violent or sexual offender whose sentence was or exceeded 7 years was 2/3 and not 1/ half of the sentence.

It is an error to which all in court fell, for which I take full responsibility.” Here’s what that meant.

The judge had calculated that a 16-year determinate sentence divided in half equal 8 years.

But the law had changed in April 2020.

For violent offenders with sentences of 7 years or more, they must serve 2/3 of the sentence, not 1/2.

2/3 of 16 years equals 10 years and 8 months.

The minimum term was increased from 8 years to 10 years and 8 months.

Mark Jones welcomed the correction, but stated, “Whether it’s 10 years or 20, it won’t be enough for me.

I will keep fighting tooth and nail for her to stay there for the rest of her life.” In August 2021, Eliona Scana was granted leave to appeal her sentence.

This meant the Court of Appeal would review the case and determine whether the sentence was too harsh.

For Mark Jones, this was devastating.

The thought that Scannana’s sentence might be reduced was unbearable.

The appeal hearing took place on the 2nd of February, 2022 at the Court of Appeal in London.

The panel consisted of three judges.

Lady Justice Maker presiding Mr.

Justice Sweeney, Mr.

Justice Morris Scanner appeared via video link from Rampton Hospital.

Defense barristister Simon Soka argued that the minimum term of 10 years and 8 months was too long.

He also argued that the judge should have imposed only a hospital order with restrictions, not a hybrid order combining hospital and prison.

SOA submitted to carry out the act in a busy park on a Sunday is in itself evidence of some deluded reality that is playing out entirely in Ms.

Scana’s mind.

The defense was essentially arguing that Scana was so mentally ill that she should never be sent to prison at all.

She should remain in a hospital indefinitely and if she recovered, she should simply be released.

The Court of Appeal was having none of it.

Lady Justice Maker delivered the panel’s unanimous decision.

The appeal was rejected.

Lady Justice Maker acknowledged the sentencing judge had a difficult exercise but accepted his original decisions.

She found there was sufficient evidence to determine Scana knew that what she did was wrong and attempted to escape detection and escape the scene.

She stated, “We consider that the judge bore in mind all responsibilities to the sentencing exercise that he must conduct and did so in a fashion that is to be commended.

We accept the sentence was severe, but we regard it to be in line with the circumstances of the case as a whole.

The court rejected both grounds of appeal, the length of the minimum term and the hybrid order itself.

Lady Justice Maker concluded with sympathy for the family.

Those difficulties, however, pale into insignificance when we consider the trauma and tragedy that befell Emily’s family on March the 22nd and will no doubt live with them throughout the rest of their lives.

We express our deepest sympathies for Emily’s loss.

Words cannot adequately encompass the grief that her family and friends have been subject to.

After the appeal was rejected, Mark Jones spoke to reporters outside the court.

I’m more relieved than happy, but I think justice and common sense prevailed.

We all know she’s a manipulative and dangerous individual, and the three judges all saw that today, he added.

As long as I’m breathing, I’ll do everything I can do to keep her where she is.

She needs to be locked up for the rest of her life.

She’s a dangerous individual.

She’d do it again to any child.

I would bet my bottom dollar on that.

When asked if he could ever forgive Scana, Mark said, “I know people say it’s good for your mental health to forgive, but in this instance, I’m afraid I can’t.

How dare she touch my daughter? How dare she put her hands on her? So, no, I can’t forgive her.” An inquest was initially opened on the 1st of April, 2020 by acting senior coroner Alan Walsh at Bolton Corner’s Court.

Walsh made a statement that captured the magnitude of the tragedy.

In my 20 years as a coroner, this is one of the most tragic deaths that I have dealt with.

The loss of a beautiful, innocent, lively, intelligent, and lovely 7-year-old in these circumstances is an unimaginable tragedy.

The inquest was then adjourned to allow for the criminal trial to proceed.

It wouldn’t resume until May 2023, more than 3 years after Emily’s death.

The full inquest lasted 8 days and was held at Bolton Corner’s court.

Senior coroner Timothy Brennan presided.

Over those 8 days, the coroner heard testimony from family members, health care workers, police officers, and psychiatric experts.

What emerged was a picture of catastrophic systemwide failures asterisk asterisk Mark Jones attended every day of the inquest.

Sarah Barnes also gave evidence.

Both parents were determined to get answers.

One of the most powerful testimonies came from Eliona Scana’s sister, Cluster Scana.

Cluster described living with her sister in the months before the attack as like living in a horror movie.

She testified that Eliona was very unwell in the days and weeks leading up to the attack.

She was hearing voices in her head.

She wasn’t sleeping at night.

She would shower and straighten her hair at 3:00 in the morning.

She was cutting her medication tablets in half.

Clustera told the court, “I was completely sure she did not take her medication properly.” Clustera described previous incidents of violence.

She said there had been times when Eliona had been found with a knife outside screaming.

She spoke about the attack on their mother in 2017 when Eliona hit their mother with an iron and stabbed her in the hand.

Cluster disagreed with testimony given earlier by Scannah’s consultant psychiatrist who had said that Scana was stable in the weeks and months before the attack.

Cluster insisted her sister was showing clear signs of relapse.

The question was if Cluster could see these warning signs, why couldn’t the mental health professionals? Victoria Fagan, Scana’s care coordinator, testified about her final visit with Scana on the 11th of March, 2020, 11 days before the attack.

Fagan said she observed no concerns during this visit.

She said Scana appeared stable and was talking about finding work, but under questioning, Fagan admitted several critical facts.

First, she had not been consulted when Dr.

Raj Dongi switched scanna from depot injections to oral tablets in August 2019.

Fagan had disagreed with this decision but was overruled.

Second, she had gone on sick leave in January 2020 for a month.

Her absence was not properly covered.

This meant Scano went weeks without any contact from mental health services.

Third, she had not entered the notes from her March 11th visit promptly.

Fagan explained she prioritized writing up notes for patients she was most worried about before going on holiday.

The implication was clear.

Scano wasn’t considered high- risk.

Dr.

Raj Dongi, the consultant psychiatrist who authorized the medication switch, also testified.

Dongi defended his decision to change scanner from depot injections to oral tablets.

He said scana had requested the change and he believed she was stable enough to manage oral medication.

But under cross-examination, Dongi admitted he had not fully consulted with Victoria Fagan before making this decision.

He acknowledged that depot injections provide better monitoring of medication compliance.

The NHS England report would later conclude it was not certain whether the consultant psychiatrist who authorized the switch properly understood the risk involved.

As testimony unfolded, a pattern emerged.

There weren’t just one or two failures.

There were dozens.

Let me walk you through them.

Failure one.

In 2017, Scana tried to access a teenage girl after escaping from the hospital.

This was documented in hospital records, but this information was never passed to the community mental health team that supervised Scana after her discharge.

Failure two, the medication switch from depot injections to oral tablets in August 2019 was made without proper consultation with the care coordinator.

Failure three.

Nobody monitored whether Scanner was actually taking her oral medication.

A month’s worth of pills was found in her flat after the attack.

Failure four, in the 100 days before the attack, Scanner received only one face-to-face visit from mental health services.

Failure five, when Victoria Fagan went on sick leave in January 2020, her absence was not properly covered.

Failure six, the notes from the March 11th visit were not entered promptly into the system.

Failure seven.

When Scanno walked out of Bentley House on the 20th of March, just 2 days before the attack, nobody followed up, nobody called, nobody checked.

Seven catastrophic failures.

And that’s just what came out at the inquest.

On the final day of the inquest, coroner Timothy Brennan delivered his verdict.

Verdict: unlawful killing by stabbing.

But then came the controversial part.

Brennan stated, “I do not believe that the behavior of Eliona Scana in the sense of perpetrating a strange homicide on March the 22nd could or should have been predicted by the community mental health team.” He added that the attack could only have been predicted with the benefit of hindsight.

Brennan acknowledged there were suboptimal elements in Scann’s community treatment, but he concluded this did not amount to a gross failure to provide basic care.

Mark Jones was furious.

He told reporters, “I cannot believe he has come to that conclusion.

They didn’t realize the threat she posed, but it was their job to know.

They may be underfunded and rushed off their feet, but they are dealing with dangerous people.” But corner Brennan didn’t let the system off the hook entirely.

His next statements were explosive.

Brennan described the mental health care sector as in crisis.

He expressed profound concerns about morale and workloads in mental health services, staff shortages and recruitment difficulties, inadequate training, inability to deliver continuing care, poor recordkeeping, insufficient quantity and quality of face-to-face consultations.

Brennan stated, “The whole profession of psychiatry needs to come under the spotlight at some point.

I think it’s a real worry.” He noted that in earlier decades, someone like Scana would have been kept under lock and key in an institution, but that approach had been abandoned in favor of community-based care.

The problem, community-based care only works if it’s properly funded and properly managed.

In Scanner’s case, it wasn’t.

Bryant confirmed he would be writing a regulation 28 report to prevent future deaths to be sent to the Minister of State for Health.

While the inquest was ongoing, NHS England had been conducting its own investigation into how Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust handled Scannis care.

The trust had done an internal review and concluded it was difficult to see how this incident could have been prevented.

NHS England disagreed strongly.

The NHS England report published in May 2022 stated there was not sufficient analysis to justify the trust’s conclusion.

The report’s most damning finding.

Our most important finding is that the trust’s understanding of risk concepts was poor.

NHS England introduced a critical concept that would become central to understanding the failures, weather versus climate.

The report stated, “The trust policy placed too much emphasis on how patients presented on a given day rather than their underlying risk profile.” Let me explain this with an analogy.

Imagine you’re assessing whether someone needs an umbrella.

If you only look out the window at that exact moment, that’s weather.

If it’s sunny, you might say they don’t need an umbrella.

But if you look at the forecast, the season, and the historical patterns, that’s climate.

And the climate might tell you rain is coming.

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust was focused on the weather.

During her March 11th visit, Scana appeared stable.

She was talking about finding work.

There were no concerns, but the climate told a different story.

Scana had a documented history of violence when unwell.

She had attacked her mother.

She had attempted to access a teenage girl.

She had a pattern of not taking medication.

She had disconnected from services before.

NHS England concluded that the trust failed to assess scanners underlying risk profile.

They were making snapshot assessments instead of looking at the full picture.

The NHS England report identified multiple specific failures.

finding one.

It was clear by 2017 that Mizay presented risks to others when she was ill, but not when she was well.

This should have been the cornerstone of her care plan.

When Scana was unwell, she was dangerous.

Therefore, ensuring she stayed well primarily through medication compliance should have been the top priority.

Finding two, Ms.

had a history of ambivalence around medication.

In other words, Scanna didn’t like taking her medication.

She had stopped taking it before this was known.

Yet the trust switched her to oral tablets that she could easily skip.

Finding three information about the threat to a child in 2017 was not communicated to the community mental health team.

This is staggering.

Hospital records documented that Scana had tried to access a teenager, but this information never reached the people supervising her in the community.

Finding four, the medication switch in August 2019 was made without properly understanding the risks.

Dr.

Raj Dongi authorized the switch without fully consulting Victoria Fagan and without appreciating that depot injections were the only way to guarantee Scana was taking her medication.

Finding five, only one face-to-face visit occurred in the 100 days before the attack.

For someone with Scanner’s risk profile, this was wholly inadequate.

finding six.

No one at the trust was aware Miz had stopped taking her medication because she was on oral tablets and because nobody was monitoring her closely, the trust had no idea Scano was deteriorating.

Finding seven, Ms.

walking out of Bentley House on the 20th of March was not followed up.

This was the final missed opportunity.

Scanner’s sister brought her to a mental health clinic, clearly concerned about her deteriorating state.

Scann walked out.

Nobody followed up.

Two days later, Emily Jones was dead.

After reading the NHS England report, Mark Jones held a press conference.

The report clearly shows there were failings.

They knew she didn’t comply with oral medication, but they allowed her to take it on her own.

That is a ridiculous thing to do.

She was a ticking time bomb.

Mark called the trust’s internal review absolute nonsense.

They outlined all these failings, and there were a lot.

And at the end of it, their finishing line was, “We still think the attack on your daughter was unpreventable,” which is ridiculous.

Mark demanded an apology from the trust.

As of the inquest in 2023, he had not received one.

I want the horrible story of what happened to my daughter to be told.

It’s not that I want people to feel sorry for us, but it needs to be told because it’s an absolute public outrage.

Mark Jones also announced he was considering legal action against Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and was sending a 10-page document to Greater Manchester Police Professional Standards Branch demanding a full investigation.

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust issued a statement following the publication of the NHS England report.

We treat incidents of this kind with the utmost seriousness and completed an internal rigorous review.

Whilst this identified learning for our services, the review found there were no markers of deterioration in Miss Scannana’s mental state or behavior which would have foreseen this tragic event.

The statement continued, “We have accepted the findings of the NHS England investigation and will implement all recommendations.

We extend our deepest condolences to Emily’s family.” But Mark Jones wasn’t satisfied.

He told reporters, “They’re just trying to cover their backs.

They failed my daughter and they need to own it.

Remember Eliona Scana entered the United Kingdom illegally on the 13th of August 2014.

She was smuggled into the country in the back of a Lori.

Upon arrival, Scana claimed asylum.

She told UK border agency officials that she was a victim of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

This was a lie.

Scana would later admit to multiple doctors and police officers that she made up this story to improve her chances of being allowed to stay in the country.

Her asylum application was initially refused in June 2018, but Scana appealed and the decision was overturned.

She was granted a residency permit lasting until November 2020 and leave to remain until 2024.

In July 2015, Scanna had her first major mental health crisis.

She was sectioned and admitted to Royal Bolton Hospital after being found with a knife outside her home.

During her hospitalization, Scana spoke with doctors and police officers, and she told them something critical.

She had lied on her asylum application.

She also said she wanted to go back to Albania.

This information was documented in hospital records.

The home office was informed.

Nothing happened.

In February 2017, Scana attacked her mother and was sectioned for a second time.

Once again, during this hospitalization, Scana spoke with doctors and police.

And once again, she admitted she had lied on her asylum application.

She repeated that she wanted to return to Albania.

This information was documented.

The Home Office was informed for a second time.

Still, nothing happened.

At the 2023 inquest, Mark Jones’s lawyer, Septan Quasnik, revealed that a plan had been discussed between the Home Office and Greater Manchester Police to repatriate Scana to Albania.

Quasnik stated, “If the Home Office had done their job properly, Miss Scana wouldn’t have been here in the first place.

She twice told doctors that she lied in her asylum application.

She twice told doctors and police that she wanted to go home in 2015 and 2017.

The plan to repatriate Scana was never followed up.

Nobody can explain why.

At the inquest, coroner Timothy Brennan directly addressed the Home Office failures.

He stated that the Home Office offered no explanation for why Scanna’s admissions that she had lied on her asylum application were not acted upon.

Brennan acknowledged that Mark Jones may well feel and is entitled to feel that Scana should never have been allowed into the country.

After the inquest, Mark Jones told reporters, “The home office has blood on their hands.

They knew she lied.

They knew she wanted to leave.

They did nothing.

My daughter would be alive if they had done their job.” The Scana case became part of a broader national conversation about asylum seekers with serious mental illness.

Conservative politicians seized on the case as evidence of failures in the asylum system.

Labor politicians countered that the real issue was underfunding of mental health services.

But both sides agreed on one thing.

Someone somewhere dropped the ball catastrophically.

A home office spokesperson issued a brief statement following the inquest.

We are carefully considering the findings from the inquest and any further recommendations by the coroner.

No apology, no acknowledgement of specific failures, just a generic statement.

Let’s be clear about what should have happened.

When Scana admitted in 2015 that she had lied on her asylum application, the home office should have immediately revoked her leave to remain and initiated deportation proceedings.

When she repeated this admission in 2017 while detained in a psychiatric hospital after violently attacking her mother, the home office should have fast-tracked her removal.

Instead, Scanner remained in the UK.

She continued living in Bolton.

She continued receiving mental health services that were clearly inadequate.

And on Mother’s Day 2020, she took a craft knife to Queens Park and murdered a 7-year-old girl.

Now, let’s talk about how Emily is being remembered.

Because despite the failures that led to her death, the response from her community has been extraordinary.

Marklin Hill Primary School, where Emily was a student, launched a fundraising campaign to create a memorial garden in her honor.

Head teacher Louise Close announced, “We want a lasting legacy for this little girl who was taken so soon, so quickly, and tragically.

Her loss has left a hole in our hearts, and the school will never be the same again.” The initial fundraising target was £5,000.

That target was reached within 12 hours.

The campaign ultimately raised £14,870.94 from 774 supporters.

Local businesses stepped up to help.

All Seasons Grounds Contractors Limited provided planting work.

Northwestern Plants Limited donated plants from their wholesale nursery.

Heenfold garden center donated bulbs.

The memorial garden was completed in summer 2021.

It features a special bench, flowers that bloom year round, and a plaque with Emily’s name and dates.

Teachers and students visit the garden to remember Emily.

On the anniversary of her death each year, the school holds a memorial service where children plant new flowers.

Sarah Barnes, Emily’s mother, wanted to create a different kind of legacy for her daughter.

She launched a GoFundMe campaign titled A Legacy for Emily Jones to help others.

The funds would benefit the Bolton Lads and Girls Club, which provides sports and art activities for children across Bolton.

Sarah wrote on the fundraising page.

Our daughter Emily Grace Jones died on the 22nd of March 2020, having been attacked by a stranger in the park whilst playing on her scooter.

Emily would have loved to help others and Bolton Lads and Girls Club provide the perfect opportunity to help children achieve their goals and provide much needed support.

The response was overwhelming.

The campaign raised over £8,800 in under 24 hours.

Ultimately, it collected £28,957 from 1,000 for 100 donations.

The money has been used to provide free or subsidized access to sports programs, art classes, and mentoring services for children who might not otherwise be able to afford them.

Sarah Barnes now volunteers as a mentor at the Bolton Lads and Girls Club herself.

She told a local newspaper, “I can’t bring Emily back, but I can help other children in her name.

That’s what she would have wanted.

Mark Jones has channeled his grief into advocacy.

He partnered with Hundred Families, a charity founded by Julian Hendy.

Henny’s father was murdered by a mental health patient in 2007.

Since then, Henny has worked tirelessly to support families affected by mental health homicides and to push for reforms in how dangerous patients are managed.

Henny told reporters, “Around 120 people a year are killed here by people with mental illness.

10 of them are children.

These deaths are preventable.

We know how to prevent them.

We just need the political will and the funding.

Mark Jones has become a vocal advocate for stricter mental health detention protocols and better monitoring of high-risisk patients.

He has met with members of parliament, given interviews to national media, and spoken at conferences about mental health and public safety.

His message is simple.

No other family should go through what we’ve been through.

The system needs to change.

Now, Mark Jones is also considering legal action against Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust.

In June 2023, Mark sent a 10-page document to Greater Manchester Police Professional Standards Branch, demanding a full investigation into whether criminal charges should be brought against any individuals involved in Scannis care.

Mark told reporters, “Someone needs to be held accountable.

These weren’t just mistakes.

These were catastrophic failures that cost my daughter her life.

If that doesn’t warrant criminal charges, I don’t know what does.

As of the end of 2023, no criminal charges have been filed against any healthcare workers or administrators.

In interviews, Mark Jones has been candid about the ongoing impact of Emily’s death.

People ask me if I found closure.

There is no closure.

How can there be? My daughter was murdered in front of me.

I held her as she died.

That never goes away.

When asked about forgiveness, Mark is blunt.

I know people say it’s good for your mental health to forgive, but in this instance, I’m afraid I can’t.

How dare she touch my daughter? How dare she put her hands on her? So, no, I can’t forgive her.

But Mark has found purpose in his advocacy work.

Emily’s death can’t be in vain.

If I can help change the system, if I can help prevent even one other family from going through this, then at least something good will have come from this nightmare, he added.

Emily was the beat in our hearts, the spring in our step, and the reason we got up every morning.

That beat has stopped, but I’m still getting up every morning because I have work to do for Emily.

Sarah Barnes has largely stayed out of the public eye, but she gave a statement at the inquest that captured her ongoing struggle.

The loss of Emily is indescribable.

She was my only child.

She was my world.

I will draw no comfort until I’m able to fully understand what led to my daughter’s death.

Sarah’s work with the Bolton Lads and Girls Club has become her way of coping.

Friends say she throws herself into the volunteer work, often spending 20 or more hours a week mentoring children.

One friend told a local newspaper.

Sarah says that when she’s at the club helping these kids, she feels close to Emily, like she’s doing what Emily would have wanted her to do.

Bolton rallied around Emily’s family in the aftermath of the murder.

Vigils were held.

Flowers and teddy bears piled up at the entrance to Queen’s Park.

Thousands of people signed online petitions calling for reforms to mental health services.

Local MP Yasmin Koreshi met with Mark Jones and Sarah Barnes multiple times.

She raised Emily’s case in Parliament, calling for a full government inquiry into how the mental health system failed.

The mayor of Bolton issued a statement.

Emily’s death has shaken our community to its core.

We pride ourselves on being a safe place to raise children.

This tragedy has forced us to confront some difficult truths about the gaps in our safety net.

Eliona Scana remains detained at Rampton Secure Hospital in Nottinghamshire.

She is in a highsecurity ward for women with serious mental illness.

According to reports, Scana is receiving ongoing treatment with antiscychotic medication.

Staff at the hospital describe her as compliant with treatment while under close supervision.

Scanna will not be eligible for release until she has served her minimum term of 10 years and 8 months.

That means the earliest possible release date would be in November 2030.

But release is far from guaranteed even after serving the minimum term.

scanner can only be released if first her mental health has improved to the point where she no longer requires hospital treatment.

Second, a parole board determines she no longer poses a risk to public safety.

If her mental health improves sufficiently that she no longer requires hospital care, she will be transferred to prison to serve the remainder of her life sentence.

And if she is never deemed safe for release, she will remain in hospital or prison for the rest of her life.

Mark Jones has vowed to fight any attempt to release Scannah.

As long as I’m breathing, I’ll do everything I can do to keep her where she is.

I’ll be at every parole hearing.

I’ll present evidence.

I’ll make sure they understand exactly what she did and exactly how dangerous she is.

Coroner Timothy Brennan’s statement at the inquest was stark.

The mental health sector is in crisis.

But what does that actually mean? Let’s break it down.

First, funding.

Between 2010 and 2020, mental health services in England faced realterms budget cuts of 8% even as demand increased by 20%.

Community mental health teams, the teams responsible for supervising patients like Eliona Scana were particularly hard hit.

Second, staffing.

Mental health nursing vacancies in the NHS stood at around 12% in 2020.

Many community mental health teams were operating at 70 to 80% capacity.

Care coordinators like Victoria Fagan were managing case loads far above recommended levels.

Third, training.

The NHS England report noted that staff received inadequate training in risk assessment.

The focus had shifted to recovery oriented care, helping patients live independently in the community at the expense of public safety considerations.

Fourth, continuity of care.

Patients were seeing different staff members at each appointment.

There was no consistent relationship between patient and clinician.

Information was getting lost.

Warning signs were being missed.

Corner Brennan summarized it perfectly.

I sense a healthc care sector that is challenging and riven with operational stress and tension.

Emily’s case reignited a debate that’s been simmering in Britain for decades.

Deinstitutionalization.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Britain closed most of its large psychiatric hospitals.

The idea was that patients would receive better, more humane care in the community.

Instead of being locked away in institutions, they would live in supervised housing, attend programs, and receive regular visits from community mental health teams.

This was called care in the community and in theory it was a good idea but it only works if the community services are properly funded and properly managed and as Emily’s case demonstrated they weren’t.

Coroner Brennan noted that in yestery year someone like Elion Scana would have been kept under lock and key in an institution.

She would never have been living independently in a flat in Bolton with minimal supervision.

Critics of deinstitutionalization argue that some patients are simply too dangerous to be managed in the community.

They need long-term secure hospitalization.

Defenders of community care argue that the problem isn’t the policy, it’s the implementation.

With proper funding and proper oversight, community care can work.

The question is which side is right.

The NHS England investigation identified what it called the weather versus climate problem.

Let me explain this in more detail.

because it’s absolutely critical to understanding why Emily died.

When Victoria Fagan visited Eliona Scana on the 11th of March 2020, she assessed Scana based on how she appeared that day.

Scanna was calm.

She was talking about finding work.

She appeared stable.

So Fagan concluded there were no concerns.

This is weather assessment.

You’re looking at the current conditions, but a climate assessment would have looked at Scann’s history.

Multiple violent incidents, documented threats toward a child, pattern of not taking medication, history of rapid deterioration when off medication.

The climate assessment would have concluded, “This patient is high risk regardless of how she appears today.

She needs intensive monitoring.

She needs depot injections to ensure medication compliance.

She needs multiple check-ins per month.” NHS England’s report was damning.

The trust’s understanding of risk concepts was poor.

The problem wasn’t just one care coordinator or one psychiatrist.

It was a systemwide failure to properly assess and manage risk.

One of the most shocking revelations from the inquest was how little attention was paid to medication compliance.

Eliona Scannana had a documented history of not taking her medication.

Everyone knew this.

Her sister knew.

Hospital staff knew.

Yet in August 2019, she was switched from depot injections which guaranteed compliance to oral tablets that she could easily skip.

Why? Because Scanna requested it and Dr.

Raj Dongi agreed without fully appreciating the risk.

After the switch, nobody checked whether Scana was actually taking her pills.

There were no blood tests, no regular home visits to count pills, nothing.

A month’s worth of untaken medication was found in Scana’s flat after she was arrested.

This meant she had been off her medication for weeks, possibly longer, and nobody knew.

Julian Hindi from Hundred Families told reporters, “This is a common problem across the mental health system.

Patients are given oral medication, they stop taking it, their mental health deteriorates, and they become dangerous.” We’ve seen this pattern over and over in homicide cases.

The solution is obvious.

High-risisk patients with histories of violence should be required to receive depot injections.

If they refuse, they should be subject to compulsory treatment orders or even detention.

But this raises uncomfortable questions about patients rights, autonomy, and civil liberties.

Another critical failure exposed by the inquest.

Information didn’t flow properly between hospital teams and community teams.

When Elona Scana was hospitalized in 2017, she attempted to access a teenage girl.

This was documented in hospital records.

But this information was never passed to the community mental health team that supervised Scana after her discharge.

Why not? Because the hospital and community teams used different record systems.

Because there was no standardized process for flagging high-risisk behaviors.

Because everyone assumed someone else had passed the information along.

This is a systemic problem across the NHS.

Different teams, different databases, information getting lost in the cracks.

After Emily s death, NHS England recommended implementing a single unified patient record system.

As of 2023, this recommendation had not been fully implemented due to cost and technical challenges.

At the conclusion of the inquest, coroner Timothy Brennan issued a regulation 28 report to prevent future deaths.

This is a formal legal document sent to organizations or government departments when a coroner believes action needs to be taken to prevent similar deaths.

Brennan’s report was addressed to the Minister of State for Mental Health, Jillian Keegan.

It outlines several key concerns.

Concern one, community mental health services are severely underresourced, leading to inadequate monitoring of high-risisk patients.

Concern two, staff morale is extremely low with high rates of burnout and turnover.

Concern three, risk assessment training is insufficient with too much focus on current presentation rather than historical risk factors.

Concern four, there is no effective system for ensuring medication compliance among high-risisk patients in the community.

Concern five, information sharing between hospital and community services is inadequate.

The Minister of State for Mental Health is legally required to respond to a regulation 28 report within 56 days explaining what action will be taken.

The response issued in July 2023 was disappointing to Mark Jones and other campaigners.

The government’s response to coroner Brennan’s report acknowledged the concerns but offered few concrete solutions.

On underresourcing, the government has committed to increasing mental health funding.

We recognize that community mental health services face significant challenges.

On staff morale, we are working with NHS trusts to improve working conditions and reduce case loads for mental health professionals.

On risk assessment, NHS England is developing updated guidance on risk assessment protocols with particular focus on historical risk factors.

On medication compliance, we are exploring options for improving monitoring of medication compliance while balancing patient autonomy and rights.

On information sharing, we are committed to implementing a unified patient record system, though this will take time due to technical and financial constraints.

Mark Jones’s response was scathing.

It’s all talk, promises, and platitudes.

They’ve committed to exploring options and developing guidance.

How many more children have to die before they actually do something? Julian Hindi from 100 families was equally critical.

We’ve been hearing these same promises for 20 years.

More funding is coming.

Better training is being developed.

Information systems will be improved.

Meanwhile, people keep dying.

So, what has actually changed since Emily Jones’s death? Let’s be brutally honest, not much.

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust implemented some internal reforms.

Reform one, care coordinators are now required to document detailed justifications when recommending changes to medication delivery methods.

Reform two, risk assessment tools have been updated to include more emphasis on historical risk factors.

Reform three, when care coordinators go on sick leave, their case loads must be formally reassigned to ensure continuity of care.

Reform four, information about violent incidents or threats toward children must be flagged and read in patient records and communicated to all future care teams.

These are positive steps, but they only apply to one NHS trust in Greater Manchester.

There’s no evidence these reforms have been implemented nationally and the fundamental problems remain.

Underfunding, under staffing, inadequate training, poor information systems.

Julian Hendi from 100 families often cites a grim statistic.

Approximately 120 people per year in the United Kingdom are killed by someone with mental illness.

10 of those victims are children.

That’s one child every 5 weeks.

Emily Jones was one of 10 children killed in 2020.

There have been similar numbers every year since.

2021, 11 children.

2022, nine children.

2023, 12 children.

Each of these cases has its own unique circumstances.

But when you read the serious case reviews and inquest reports, you see the same patterns again and again.

Patient with history of violence when unwell.

Switch from depot injections to oral medication.

Poor monitoring of medication compliance.

Inadequate face-to-face contact.

Information not properly shared between teams.

Warning signs missed or ignored.

Then tragedy.

Mark Jones told reporters.

Emily wasn’t the first child to die this way, and she won’t be the last.

Unless something fundamentally changes, this will keep happening.

Emily’s case is tragically not unique.

Let me give you a few examples of similar cases from recent years.

Case one.

In 2017, a man named Matthew Daly stabbed and killed artist Donald Lockach in a road rage incident in West Sussex.

Daly had paranoid schizophrenia and had stopped taking his medication.

His community mental health team had seen him only once in the previous 6 months.

The inquest found missed opportunities to prevent the killing.

Case two.

In 2019, a man named Nicola Edgington stabbed and killed grandmother Sally Hodkin on a London street.

Edgington had previously been detained in a psychiatric hospital after killing her mother.

She was released into the community despite warnings from hospital staff that she remained dangerous.

The serious case review found multiple failures in risk assessment.

Case three.

In 2015, a man named Ryan Champion murdered his father after stopping his antiscychotic medication.

His GP had switched him from depot injections to tablets.

His family repeatedly contacted mental health services expressing concern.

Nothing was done.

The inquest jury found the death could have been prevented.

The patterns are identical.

History of violence switched to oral medication.

Inadequate monitoring.

Warning signs ignored.

Preventable death.

Emily’s case has reignited a difficult debate about where to draw the line between protecting patients rights and protecting public safety.

On one side are civil liberties advocates who argue that people with mental illness shouldn’t be locked up or forcibly medicated unless they’ve actually committed a crime.

They point out that the vast majority of people with mental illness are not violent.

They argue that involuntary treatment is a violation of human rights.

On the other side are victims families and public safety advocates who argue that when someone has a documented history of violence when unwell, society has a duty to ensure they remain well, even if that means compulsory medication or detention.

Mark Jones falls firmly in the second camp.

I understand the civil liberties argument.

I really do.

But where were my daughter’s civil liberties? Where was her right to play safely in a park? When you’ve attacked your own mother with an iron? When you’ve tried to access a teenager, when you’ve been sectioned multiple times, you’ve lost the right to refuse treatment.

Mental health advocates counter that forced treatment can be traumatic and counterproductive.

They argue for a rights-based approach that emphasizes patient autonomy.

But Julian Hendi from 100 Families asks, “How many deaths are acceptable in pursuit of patient autonomy?” Because that’s what we’re really talking about.

We’ve decided as a society that protecting patient rights is more important than protecting potential victims.

Is that really the trade-off we want to make? There are no easy answers here.

But Emily’s death forces us to confront these uncomfortable questions.

It would be dishonest not to address the elephant in the room.

Eliona Scan’s immigration status became a political flash point.

Right-wing politicians and media outlets seized on the case as evidence that Britain’s asylum system is broken.

They argued that Scannon never should have been in the UK, that her false asylum claim should have been caught, and that her admission to lying should have resulted in immediate deportation.

Nigel Farage tweeted, “Emily Jones would be alive today if our borders were properly controlled.

How many more innocent victims before we secure our borders?” Conservative backbenchers called for stricter deportation policies for asylum seekers with mental illness or criminal histories.

But critics argue this misses the point.

The real failure wasn’t immigration policy.

It was mental health care.

Even if Scana had been a British citizen, the same systemic failures would have existed.

Mark Jones himself has largely avoided making this a political issue.

He’s focused his anger on the mental health system and the home office’s failure to follow up on Scann’s admissions, but he’s been careful not to blame immigration broadly.

In one interview, Mark said, “I don’t care where she came from.

Albanian, British, it doesn’t matter.

What matters is that the systems that were supposed to keep my daughter safe failed catastrophically.

That’s what we need to fix.” It’s worth asking, how do other countries handle high-risisk mental health patients? Are there models we can learn from? Australia has implemented something called a forensic mental health order system.

Patients with histories of serious violence can be placed under long-term supervision orders that require depot medication, regular check-ins, and immediate detention if they show signs of deterioration.

These orders can last for years and are reviewed regularly by tribunals.

The Netherlands has a system of TBS orders, essentially indefinite psychiatric detention for people who commit serious crimes while mentally ill.

Patients are held in secure facilities until they’re deemed no longer dangerous.

This can mean lifetime detention.

It’s controversial, but has significantly reduced mental health homicides.

Norway emphasizes early intervention.

Anyone diagnosed with serious mental illness is assigned a dedicated care coordinator who maintains weekly contact.

Depot medications are standard for anyone with a history of violence.

The system is expensive but effective.

Norway has one of the lowest rates of mental health homicides in Europe.

The United States has a patchwork system that varies by state.

Some states have assisted outpatient treatment laws that allow courts to order people with serious mental illness to comply with treatment.

Others rely entirely on voluntary compliance.

Results are mixed.

The UK model emphasize community care with minimal compulsion falls somewhere in the middle.

It works well for most patients, but for high-risisk individuals like Eliona Scana, it’s clearly inadequate.

Mark Jones has been clear about what reforms he believes are necessary.

In his meetings with MPs and in media interviews, he’s outlined a five-point plan.

Point one, mandatory depot injections for any patient with a history of violence when medication is non-compliant.

No exceptions.

No patient choice in this matter if you’ve proven you’re dangerous when unwell.

Point two, minimum monthly face-to-face visits for all high-risisk patients.

Not phone calls, not video calls, actual in-person assessments.

Point three, unified patient records across the NHS so information about violent incidents is automatically flagged and available to all care teams.

Point four, stricter thresholds for discharging patients from secure hospitals into community care.

If there’s any doubt about safety, they stay in hospital.

Point five, criminal accountability for healthare workers or administrators whose gross negligence leads to preventable deaths.

That last point is controversial.

Mark believes individuals should face criminal charges when their failures lead to deaths.

He’s called for police to investigate the health care workers involved in Scannis care.

I’m not talking about honest mistakes, Mark says.

I’m talking about systemic failures, gross negligence, people not doing their jobs.

When that leads to a child’s death, someone should go to prison.

So far, no criminal charges have been filed against anyone involved in Scannis care.

Sarah Barnes has been less vocal about systemic reform, but in a rare interview with a local newspaper in 2022, she shared her perspective.

I can’t think about the big policy debates.

That’s too abstract for me.

I just think about my daughter.

I think about the specific moments where someone could have done something different.

When Elona walked out of that clinic 2 days before the attack, someone could have followed up.

If just one person had made one phone call, Emily would be alive.

Sarah’s focus has remained on her volunteer work with the Bolton Lads and Girls Club.

She told the newspaper, “I can’t change the mental health system.

I can’t change immigration policy, but I can help children right now, today, in Emily’s name.

That’s what keeps me going.” Eliona Scana will be eligible for parole in November 2030, just 7 years from now.

Mark Jones has already started preparing for that parole hearing.

He’s collecting documents, statements, and evidence to present to the parole board.

I’ll be there, Mark says.

I’ll present evidence of every violent incident.

I’ll present psychiatric testimony.

I’ll present evidence of her history of deception and manipulation.

I’ll make sure they understand exactly who she is and exactly what she’s capable of.

But parole decisions don’t consider past crimes alone.

They focus on current risk.

The key questions will be, does Scannah still have paranoid schizophrenia? Almost certainly yes.

Schizophrenia is a chronic condition.

Is her mental health stable on medication? Possibly.

She’s been compliant with treatment while in secure hospital under supervision.

Would she remain stable if released? Unknown.

Her history suggests she stops taking medication when left to her own devices.

The parole board will hear testimony from psychiatrists at Rampton Hospital, risk assessors, and victim impact statements from Mark and Sarah.

Julian Hendi from 100 families notes.

The problem with parole hearings is they’re often overly optimistic.

Psychiatrists testify that the patient is doing well in hospital, responding to treatment, showing remorse.

Then they’re released, they stop taking medication within weeks, and someone else dies.

Mark is adamant she will never leave that hospital.

Not while I have breath in my body.

I’ll fight her release at every parole hearing for the rest of my life if I have to.

Here’s the question we need to confront.

Could another Emily Jones die next year? The honest answer is yes.

The same systemic failures that led to Emily’s death still exist.

Community mental health teams are still understaffed and underfunded.

Risk assessment practices haven’t fundamentally changed across most NHS trusts.

Information sharing between hospital and community teams is still inadequate.

Monitoring of medication compliance is still poor.

Julian Hindi puts it bluntly.

Unless there’s a massive injection of funding and a complete overhaul of how we assess and manage risk, we’ll keep seeing these deaths.

Maybe not in Bolton, maybe not in a park, but somewhere somehow another high-risisk patient will be inadequately monitored.

They’ll stop taking their medication.

They’ll have a psychotic break and they’ll kill someone.

Coroner Timothy Brennan expressed similar concerns in his regulation 28 report.

I am concerned that there is a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken.

But despite these warnings, real reform remains elusive.

Why haven’t the reforms been implemented? The answer, as always, comes down to money.

Doubling face-to-face visits for high-risisk patients would require hiring thousands more community mental health nurses.

That costs money.

Implementing a unified patient record system across the NHS would cost billions of pounds.

That costs money.

Building more secure psychiatric hospital beds would cost hundreds of millions.

That costs money.

Providing intensive training on risk assessment would require taking staff off the floor for training days.

That costs money.

Governments of both parties have promised increased mental health funding.

Some additional money has been provided, but it hasn’t been nearly enough to address the fundamental problems.

Mark Jones is bitter about this.

They can always find billions for other things.

New weapon systems, tax cuts for the rich.

But when it comes to protecting children from preventable deaths, suddenly there’s no money.

It’s obscene.

Despite all the failures, despite all the systemic problems that remain unresolved, Emily Jones is not forgotten.

The memorial garden at Marklin Hill Primary School remains a place where students, teachers, and community members go to remember her.

Fresh flowers are left there regularly.

The Bolton Lads and Girls Club continues to help children in Emily’s name.

Sarah Barnes’s volunteer work there ensures Emily’s legacy of kindness and joy lives on.

Mark Jones’s advocacy work with Hundred Families means Emily’s story is told at conferences, in Parliament, in media interviews.

Her death has become a rallying cry for reform.

In 2022, Bolton Council unveiled a permanent memorial bench in Queens Park, not far from where Emily died, but in a different location chosen by Mark and Sarah.

The plaque reads, “In loving memory of Emily Grace Jones, forever 7 years old, forever in our hearts, may her light inspire kindness.” Mark Jones has become unexpectedly eloquent in his advocacy.

In a speech to a mental health conference in 2023, he said, “Emily was just 7 years old.

She was riding her scooter.

She was calling out to her mom.

She was doing what 7-year-olds do on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

And in seconds, her life was over.

Not because of some unavoidable tragedy, not because of some unforeseeable accident, but because multiple systems failed, multiple people dropped the ball, and nobody was held accountable.

I’m not asking for the impossible.

I’m asking for the basics.

Monitor high-risisk patients properly.

Make sure they take their medication.

Share information between teams.

Follow up on warning signs.

These aren’t radical ideas.

They’re common sense.

But in the absence of common sense, I’ll keep telling Emily’s story.

I’ll keep pushing for reform.

I’ll keep demanding accountability.

Because if I stop, if I give up, then my daughter died for nothing.

And I will not let that happen.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth that nobody in power wants to say out loud.

Preventing mental health homicides requires making choices that limit patient autonomy and cost significant money.

You can’t have comprehensive community care for high-risisk patients on the cheap.

You can’t monitor medication compliance without frequent face-to-face visits.

You can’t properly assess risk without adequate staffing and training.

You can’t share information between teams without investing in technology.

And you can’t protect public safety without sometimes overriding patient preferences, requiring depot injections, imposing community treatment orders, extending hospital stays.

These are difficult, expensive choices.

Politicians of both parties have been unwilling to make them because they’re politically unpopular and fiscally costly.

So instead, we muddle along with an underfunded, understaffed system that works well enough for most patients most of the time.

But for high-risisk patients like Eliona Scana, it fails catastrophically.

And when it fails, 7-year-old girls die in parks on Mother’s Day.

The murder of Emily Grace Jones was preventable.

Not possibly preventable.

Not arguably preventable.

preventable.

Full stop.

If the home office had deported Eliona Scana after she admitted lying on her asylum application in 2015, Emily would be alive.

If Dr.

Raj Dangi had not switched Scana from depot injections to oral tablets in August 2019, Emily would be alive.

If Victoria Fagan had not been on sick leave for a month in January 2020, or if her absence had been properly covered, Emily would be alive.

If someone had followed up after Scannah walked out of Bentley House on the 20th of March, Emily would be alive.

If any one of these failures had not occurred, Emily Grace Jones would be 14 years old right now.

She’d be in secondary school.

She’d be hanging out with friends.

She’d be arguing with her parents about screen time and curfews.

She’d be living the normal, beautiful, ordinary life of a teenager.

Instead, she’s dead, buried in a cemetery in Bolton, remembered in a memorial garden and on a park bench and in the hearts of everyone who loved her.

This case isn’t just about Eliona Scana.

It’s about a system that allows dangerous people to slip through the cracks.

It’s about priorities and funding and accountability.

It’s about whether we value public safety enough to make the hard choices necessary to protect it.

Mark Jones will keep fighting.

Sarah Barnes will keep volunteering.

Emily’s memory will be honored.

But unless something fundamental changes, there will be another Emily.

Maybe next year, maybe the year after, but somewhere another child will pay the price for our collective failure to fix a broken system.

Thank you for watching until the end.

I hope it’s given you a comprehensive understanding of not just what happened, but why it happened and why it matters.

Emily’s father, Mark Jones, is continuing his advocacy work with Hundred Families.

If you want to support their efforts to reform the mental health system and prevent future tragedies, you can find information in the description below.

If this documentary has affected you and you’d like to talk to someone about mental health concerns, resources and helplines are also available in the description.

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Emily’s story deserves to be heard.

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Thank you for watching.

Take care of yourselves and each other.

For Cold Case Desk, this has been the complete investigation into the murder of Emily Grace Jones.