The woman who attacked and killed Emily Jones in front of her parents when she was scooting in a park could have her sentence reduced.
Eltiona Skana was given a life sentence with a minimum of ten years and eight months, along with a hospital order meaning she would not be sent to prison until doctors deemed her fit.
The tragic killing happened in a park in Bolton, when young Emily was out with her parents on March 22, 2020, Manchester Evening News reported.
The 31-year-old pleaded guilty to manslaughter by means of diminished responsibility.
As Emily scooted past Skana, who suffers severe paranoid schizophrenia, she grabbed the youngster and slashed her throat with a craft knife she’d bought earlier that day.
Now, after she was granted leave to appeal in August last year, Skana will have the opportunity to plead her case before the Court of Appeal on February 2.
When passing his sentence on her, Judge Mr Justice Wall said she would be detained in a secure hospital as long as “necessary” and when released she would go straight to prison to serve her sentence.
In a victim impact statement read in court Emily's dad Mark Jones described his daughter as a 'kind child' who was 'bright and funny'.
He added: "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?"
Skana pleaded guilty to manslaughter but was found not guilty of murdering Emily, after prosecutors dropped the charge.
Last year, Emily's father, Mark Jones, said he would do all her could to keep his daughter's killer locked up.
"I will keep fighting tooth and nail for her to stay there for the rest of her life - whether it's ten years or 20 it won't be enough for me," he said.
"As far as I'm concerned she's a danger to the public for the rest of her life, she'd do it again to any child I would bet my bottom dollar on that.
"I will do all I can to keep her in prison for the rest of her life."
Over the course of the seven-day murder trial, jurors heard that Skana had been experiencing symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia for years.
She had complained about her neighbours, who she was worried were 'plotting to harm her with electricity' and she was twice sectioned when her delusions led to violence.
The trial ended with Skana being found not guilty of murder after the prosecution dropped the charge upon hearing evidence from a senior psychologist at Rampton Hospital - the secure facility where she was being treated.
