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Man admits head on beach murder Man admits head on beach murder
(30 minutes later)
A teenager has pled guilty to murdering a Lithuanian woman whose head was found on an Angus beach by children. A teenager has pleaded guilty to murdering a Lithuanian woman whose head was found on a beach in Angus.
Aleksandras Skirda, 19, also from Lithuania, admitted killing Jolanta Bledaite in March and dumping her severed head and hands in the sea.Aleksandras Skirda, 19, also from Lithuania, admitted killing Jolanta Bledaite in March and dumping her severed head and hands in the sea.
He also admitted throwing a suitcase containing the 35-year-old's body into Arbroath harbour and withdrawing £1,400 using stolen bank cards.He also admitted throwing a suitcase containing the 35-year-old's body into Arbroath harbour and withdrawing £1,400 using stolen bank cards.
Vitas Plytnykas, who denies murder and theft, will be tried in February.Vitas Plytnykas, who denies murder and theft, will be tried in February.
Ms Bledaite's head was found washed up on the beach at Arbroath by two young sisters on 1 April. Skirda is now expected to give evidence against Mr Plytnykas, 41.
But during a half-hour hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh Plytnykas claimed that Skirda was the guilty man.
Ms Bledaite's head was found in a plastic bag on Arbroath beach by two sisters, aged eight and 11, on 1 April.
Her hands were discovered nearby by police called to the scene.
The two men were arrested days later.
Skirda had admitted that on 29 March at a flat in Earlsdon House, Southesk Street, Brechin - where Ms Bledaite lived - he attacked her, tied her legs, arms and hands and taped her mouth and nose.
Jolanta Bledaite's head was found on Arbroath beachJolanta Bledaite's head was found on Arbroath beach
Police searching the shore area then found her hands. The charge goes on to describe how Ms Bledaite was hit repeatedly on the head and body and repeatedly hit with a knife or knives during demands that she reveal the PIN numbers to bank cards.
Days later the suitcase containing body parts was pulled from Arbroath harbour. Finally, she was held down and smothered with a pillow.
Ms Bledaite had been working in Brechin for about 18 months to help raise money for her sick father back in Lithuania. Skirda admits that he severed her hands and head and threw them into the sea the following day and disposed of the rest of her body in a suitcase.
Following her murder, intensive searches were carried out at her home in the town's Southesk Street. He also admitted that after the death he used stolen bank cards and PIN numbers to steal cash.
Local people, touched by the death, raised thousands of pounds to pay for a funeral in Lithuania. Donations also came in from across the world. Plytnykas denies all the charges which Skirda has admitted.
About 200 people, including the Lithuanian ambassador, also attended a memorial service in Arbroath to pay tribute to Ms Bledaite. He also denies clearing Ms Bledaite's possessions from her bedroom, setting fire to her papers and personal belongings and throwing knives into a river in Brechin.
He further denies throwing other personal possessions of the dead woman into dustbins in Forfar and Arbroath and pretending that Ms Bledaite had moved.
Defence QC Paul McBride entered his not guilty pleas and told the judge he wished to lodge a "special defence" incriminating Skirda.
Lord Uist told Skirda: "You have pleaded guilty to the crime of murder and must in due course be sentenced to detention - or as it will be by the time you are sentenced - imprisonment for life."