Migrant murdered and mutilated for £1,400

A Lithuanian man is facing life in prison after admitting his part in the murder of a migrant worker whose head was found wrapped in a black plastic bag by children on the Angus shore, in north-east Scotland, on 1 April 2008.

Aleksandras Skirda, 19, pleaded guilty in the High Court in Edinburgh on 14 October to torturing and killing Lithuanian farm worker Jolanta Bledaite, 35, at her home in Brechin, Angus, in March.

The nineteen-year-old admitted to three charges through his QC Mark Stewart, pleading guilty to murdering Ms Bledaite on March 29, in her flat at Earlsdon House.

He held her at this address against her will, bound her arms, legs and hands and taped her mouth and nose whilst demanding that she reveal the pin number for her bank card.

The court was told how the victim was struck across the head after which she was assaulted with a knife or knives and threatened that she would be killed. A pillow was placed over her head as her legs were held down.

At the flat on the same date, Mr Skirda admitted in court to severing Ms Bledaite’s hands and head from the body and then disposing of them in the sea off Arbroath harbour. The following day a suitcase containing the body was dumped in the sea at the same location.

Mr Skirda also admitted to a third charge of using the victim’s bank cards to steal a total of £1,400 from cash machines in Brechin, Montrose and Arbroath between the 29 March and 3 April 2008.

The admissions came at a pre-trial hearing in open court. Lord Uist, presiding, told Mr Skirda: “You have pleaded guilty to the crime of murder and must in due course be sentenced to detention - or as it will be by the time you are sentenced – imprisonment for life."

The judge also called for background checks on the Lithuanian, who is a first-time offender.

It was also announced at the hearing that Mr Skirda would appear as a key witness against Vitas Plytnykas, who he has incriminated. The two men were arrested together after the severed head was discovered.

However, Mr Plytnykas denies any involvement in the torture, killing and mutilation of Ms Bledaite. The trial is set to go ahead in February 2009.

Mr Plytnykas last week submitted a "special defence" through his QC Paul McBride, which in Scottish legal parlance refers to an alibi or incrimination of another, claiming that Mr Skirda was solely responsible for the butchering and murder of the farm worker.

He denies all charges brought against him, including clearing the victim’s possessions out of her flat, burning her papers and belongings and throwing the murder weapon into a nearby river.

Mr McBride also stated that the two sisters aged eight and eleven who found the victim’s severed head whilst playing on the beach would be required as witnesses in the case. However, he did state that they would not have to relive their ordeal as the evidence had been agreed in advance. He confirmed that "they will not be required to attend the trial."

Ms Bledaite, from Alytus, Lithuania had been living in Brechin for 18 months after spending time in Ireland. She left her homeland promising her father, who suffers from cancer, that she would return eventually with enough money to buy him a house.

The local community, as well as the large Lithuanian migrant community in Scotland, has been shocked by the brutal murder. A memorial service was held on the beach where her remains were found.

A fund set up in Brechin to help her family raised more than £10,000.