Violent killer is jailed for 9 years

THE violent killer who brutally stabbed and strangled a man before burying his body in deep woodland near Humberside Airport has been jailed for nine years.

The killing was branded by a judge as "cowardly and callous" – and police believe that nobody else was responsible for the death, despite the attacker's efforts to blame another man for it.

Lithuanian man Aleksandras Aleksiunas, 26, of Burke Street, Scunthorpe, denied murdering chicken factory worker Arvydas Skrinkas at Cottager's Dale Wood, near Great Limber, between December 24 and January 10.

He was cleared of murder but was convicted by a jury of manslaughter on a 10 to two majority verdict after nearly 11 hours of deliberations spanning three days, as reported.

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He and Lithuanian co-defendant Arundas Gervelis, 25, of Dale Street, Scunthorpe, denied falsely imprisoning Mr Skrinkas and his girlfriend, Agne Jozenaite, on December 24 and falsely imprisoning Miss Jozenaite on December 25.

Aleksiunas, a bacon factory worker, was convicted of the first offence but the jury at Hull Crown Court was unable to reach a verdict on the second matter. That charge will lie on file. Gervelis was cleared by the jury of both charges.

The prosecution claimed Aleksiunas stabbed Mr Skrinkas, causing a 12cm-deep shoulder wound and other wounds, and strangled him with a cord after driving him to the remote wooded area off the A18.

He hid his own blood-splattered jacket, a door key to his mother's home and the victim's sandals, also under piles of leaves.

Aleksiunas was said to have been furious that a satellite navigation system had gone missing and blamed Lithuanian Mr Skrinkas, 25, of Scunthorpe, and his girlfriend, Miss Jozenaite, 23, for the theft.

The conviction for manslaughter came as a surprise to those involved in the case, as it had not even been suggested as a possible verdict by either the prosecution or the defence or even raised as an option.