The mother of a teenage girl murdered by a predator after she refused to have sex with him branded her daughter's killer 'pure evil'. Lily Sullivan, 18, was strangled to death by 31-year-old Lewis Haines - a father who had a girlfriend.
The pair had met in a nightclub and had been seen kissing at one stage. But after she rebuffed his sexual advances, Haines strangled Lily and dumped her body in a reservoir in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
Haines left the crime scene and walked past Lily's mother Anna, Wales Online reports. She had called her mum shortly before, who was planning on driving her home.
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Later Haines told his girlfriend: "I've strangled someone." Sentencing at Swansea Crown Court, Judge Paul Thomas QC said: "He strangled Lily in order to prevent her telling people he had tried to get her to go further than she was willing.
"His intention was to silence her. He didn’t want anyone to know what had happened in the lane.
"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."
Haines was handed a life sentence after pleading guilty to murder, and will serve at least 23 years in jail. Lily's mother branded Haines 'pure evil' and said she will never forgive him.
In a statement she said: "I suffered 14 miscarriages prior to Lily being born. I had almost resigned myself to not having any children so when Lily was born it felt amazing.
"She gave purpose to my life, she was my little bit of normal. Everything made sense when she arrived. We were so close.
"She was a beautiful girl inside and out. She didn't see that and lacked self-confidence.
"She always saw the good in people. She was not an angry person or confrontational.
"Lily was always good in a crisis. She was bright, funny and a talented artist.
"She was a typical teenage girl who loved clothes and makeup and mostly music. She adored house music. She had just started going out with friends on a regular basis.”
Mrs Sullivan said her daughter had 'so much to look forward to', and that she'd just started driving lessons and was attending college.
"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."
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