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Parents’ anguish as boy, 16, found guilty of raping and murdering daughter, 14, in twisted two-hour park sex attack
Twisted youth hit Viktorija Sokolova 21 times with a hammer then posed her half-naked body over a park bench
THE mum and stepdad of a 14-year-old girl raped and murdered in a two-hour orgy of violence told of their anguish today as her teenage killer was brought to justice.
The youth — who is 16 and cannot be named — searched extreme sex websites before smashing Viktorija Sokolova's skull with a hammer and leaving her body propped up in a graphic sexual pose.
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Viktorija's mother Karolina Valantiniene and stepdad Saidas Valantinas were accused of involvement in her death during a harrowing trial.
Today as the boy was found guilty of rape and murder, they said: "A nightmare is probably the best description - we never thought that such a day would come to our lives.
"We were a family, now there are only two of us. Viktorija will never be replaced and will always be missed dearly. She will remain in our hearts for ever.
"We will never be given the opportunity to have grandchildren because this has been taken from us."
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A horrified dog walker found Viktorija's half-naked remains bent forward over a bench in West Park in Wolverhampton, where the killer had lured her the night before.
The wooden pavilion where they met was left soaked in blood as he raped her and clubbed her 21 times in an attack so savage her spine was "snapped in two", a court heard.
Blood spatters showed the victim had moved about as she tried to dodge the killer's merciless blows with a hammer-like weapon.
The fiend then dragged her 150 yards to the bench for the final depravity.
Prosecutors claimed he had sex with her corpse, although he denied it and the charge was withdrawn during the trial.
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After the verdicts, cops revealed how the teenager had scoured web chats for information on sick sexual practices in the hours before the horror on April 11.
And despite claiming to have learning difficulties, he tried to cover his tracks by deleting his Facebook account and destroying his clothes.
Detective Inspector Caroline Corfield said after the case: “In terms of the levels of violence, this is one the most horrific cases I’ve overseen.
"The clearly sustained nature of a violent attack on a 14-year-old girl is inexplicable.
"The shelter was heavily blood stained, Viktorija’s earrings had been found inside, one of them had been ripped from her ear.
"The attack was so violent we found three of her teeth in the pavilion.
"To this day I cannot find any explanation for that level of violence. It’s incomprehensible.
“We recovered DNA from in and on her body which proved her killer had sex with her.”
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The boy had contacted Viktorija out of the blue — several months after the last time they spoke — suggested they run away to London and begged her to meet him late at night in the park.
Haunting CCTV shows the teenager's last moments as she walked to her death through the snow dressed in white jeans and pink boots which were later found dumped near her body.
The dog walker who found her thought at first it was a prank with a blow-up doll, the court heard.
Officers found Viktorija's phone on an island in the park's duck pond, and were able to retrieve Facebook Messenger chats with the killer.
They also discovered the lengths he went to in an effort to erase evidence linking him to Viktorija.
He had deleted his search history and all their Facebook messages, and apparently disposed of his clothing to conceal forensic evidence.
But the youth was tracked on CCTV before and after the murder as he stalked the streets for hours wearing a rucksack and Adidas Gazelles that matched footprints at the crime scene.
The bag and trainers were never recovered, but cops found his phone behind a wardrobe.
Footage showed the attack lasted around two hours and he changed his trousers between entering and leaving the park.
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Meanwhile, the trial heard that cops used a fingerprint seen in another video to prove the boy was handling Viktorija's phone.
The killer used his brother's phone to record himself looking through the notes app of his victim's device.
While it did not show his face it did record his thumb scrolling through Viktorija's phone - which detectives used to prove it was him.
It is believed to be the first time such evidence has successfully led to a killer being identified.
Prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC said: "The film recorded on the brother's phone shows a person holding the defendant's phone and manually going through the list of notes, opening those that he wished to record.
"It has been established that the defendant is the person who is holding his iPhone and going through the notes because the images are of such good quality and definition, that the ridge detail of the left thumb holding the phone could be compared to the corresponding fingerprint of the defendant, and they were found to match."
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Police revealed today the youth had previously been referred to mental health services but contact was minimal and there was no indication he might kill.
DI Corfield said: "There was no clue he could commit this violent act but once we understood what he was capable of, I was not the only person on the inquiry who lost sleep over the possibility of him being acquitted and walking free from court."
He denied meeting Viktorija the night she died and claimed his Facebook account had been hacked.
But faced with DNA evidence he changed his defence at trial, claiming they had consensual sex and he left her in the park alive.
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His lawyers tried to suggest Saidas Valantinas sexually assaulted and killed his stepdaughter after a trace amount of his DNA was found on her underwear.
And Viktorija's grieving mother Karolina Valantiniene was forced to deny she covered up for her farm labourer husband.
Today they spoke of the "humiliation" at having to face him in court as they were wrongly accused of involvement.
Saidas said of the night of the murder: "I was waiting until midnight for her to come back but she didn’t.
“I wanted to go and look for her but I had to go to work quite early.
“When I received a phone call from my wife and she said a body of a girl had been found, I couldn’t believe it. I thought that must be a mistake."
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Karolina, 36, said: “Viktorija was a bright and happy girl who loved life. She had a lot of friends who loved her.
“It is beyond comprehension that something like this has happened to us.
“We as parents should go through life together with them, waiting for them to grow up and for us to grow old and have our grandchildren.
“I keep asking God - why and for what did this happen to us?
“We are trying our best to get back to life no matter how difficult it is."
DI Corfield said today: "Her parents have never been suspects."
Evidence showed Saidas was at home at the time of the murder and his DNA could have been innocently transferred from clothing in a washing machine.
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The detective added: "The impact on Viktorija's family has been huge.
"It's impossible to imagine what it is like to learn of the murder of your child, then to hear the horrific details of that murder - which are inescapable because they have to be presented in court.
"But in this particular case the defence pointed the finger of blame very specifically at Viktorija's parents - they were asked in court whether they had murdered Viktorija."
Viktorija, originally from Lithuania, was previously described by her family as "a little angel" who made others' lives "colourful and full of meaning".
But she was also troubled and had run away from home several times.
She knew the killer and thought of him as a friend but had not had contact with him for a long time until eight days before he killed her.
The youth was convicted of murder and rape after a trial at Wolverhampton crown court.
A court order bans identifying the boy, who faces an automatic life sentence.
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Trial judge Mr Justice Jeremy Baker ordered reports ahead of sentencing in February.
He said of the defendant: "He is still young, 16 years of age.
"I am obviously concerned as to the extreme nature of the offences in this case and therefore it seems to me that the court ought to be properly informed about all of the background."
Balloons tied to West Park's gates in memory of murdered 14-year-old Viktorija Sokolova
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