Man handed life term for killing teenager after she rebuffed his sexual advances

The pair had kissed after meeting in the Out nightspot on December 16 and later went to a nearby alleyway together where they became more intimate.

Swansea Crown Court heard Miss Sullivan was later found face down and topless in Mill Pond, a two-mile-long freshwater reservoir near the town.

After murdering the teenager, Haines walked past his victim’s mother as she waited to pick her daughter up from a nearby garage.

Father-of-one Haines admitted murdering Miss Sullivan but denied sexual misconduct.

But after a trial of facts, Judge Paul Thomas QC concluded Haines had killed the teenager after she rebuffed his sexual advances.

Frustrated

Judge Thomas said it was clear that after spending around an hour in an alleyway together, Haines had become “frustrated” and attacked Miss Sullivan.

Her tobacco tin, mobile phone and leather jacket were later found strewn on the ground in the lane.

Haines made Miss Sullivan walk to the lake, a short distance away, and “forcibly” removed her cream lace top.

He later claimed Miss Sullivan had threatened to accuse him of rape.

Judge Thomas said part of the defendant’s story held an “element based in truth” and that he had a “great deal to lose”.

At the time, Haines was going through family court proceedings to have access to his child, and had a girlfriend.

“He strangled Lily in order to prevent her telling people he had tried to get her to go further than she was willing,” Judge Thomas said.

“His intention was to silence her.

“He didn’t want anyone to know what had happened in the lane.”

Sentencing Haines, Judge Thomas said: “You strangled her face-to-face, she must have been terrified.

“An 18-year-old girl all alone in the dark with a powerful man.

“She was entirely at your mercy and you, Lewis Haines, showed her none.

“You were entirely thinking about your own self-preservation.”

He said Miss Sullivan’s death had caused “devastation to many”.

Her mother Anna branded Haines “pure evil” and said she will never forgive him.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by William Hughes QC, prosecuting, she said: “The events of the night Lily died go over in my mind constantly and I wake up in the night picturing Lily in the water wondering if she knew what was happening, if she was scared.

“I wish I had stopped Lily going out that night.

“I picture the male responsible for Lily’s death who I saw in the garage and wish I’d confronted him.

“Knowing I was that close to her, I wish I’d gotten out of my car and walked. I will always wonder if I could have saved her.”

She called her only daughter “beautiful inside and out”, and a “forgiving, kind and loving” girl who loved music, was a talented artist and had been “robbed of her future”.

Monster

Miss Sullivan’s family and friends shouted “rot in hell” and “monster” at Haines as he was taken down to the cells.

The teenager’s social media accounts had contained a number of poignant posts about misogyny, sexual violence and women being killed by men.

One of her Instagram stories contained a photograph taken of floral tributes left for Sarah Everard with a sign that read: “She was just walking home.”

Another post several weeks later listed 80 women who had been killed by men since Miss Everard was murdered by Met Police officer Wayne Couzens.

Others included words such as “Men shouldn’t be making laws about women’s bodies”, “Maybe not all men, but all women”, and a guide on how to recognise if you have been spiked.