Yahoo Movies Schoolgirl Viktorija Sokolova's killer convicted thanks to 'legal first' using fingerprint from a video
A 16-year-old boy has been convicted of the brutal rape and murder of a schoolgirl after a legal first saw his fingerprint ‘lifted’ from a mobile phone video.
The teenager, who cannot be named, used horrific levels of violence to kill 14-year-old Viktorija Sokolova, before dumping her body on a park bench.
Detectives believe the boy used a hammer, which has never been found, to launch a “ferocious and sustained” attack on the school girl, who suffered a fractured skull and spine.
He was unanimously convicted of rape and murder by a jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
During the case, detectives notched up what is thought to be a legal first by “lifting” a fingerprint from a mobile phone video.
Officers investigating the killing spotted a recognisable print in a film showing Viktorija’s murderer scrolling through his iPhone for passwords as he prepared to delete evidence linking him to the schoolgirl.
The footage did not show the boy’s face so the fingerprint was the only means of proving he was using the phone.
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Prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC told the court that the video was found on a Huawei mobile phone belonging to the defendant’s brother and showed details in the Notes app on the defendant’s phone, relating to log-on details and and email addresses.
Mr Rees told the court: “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.”
The defendant, who was cleared of sexual penetration of a corpse, faces an automatic life sentence when he is sentenced on February 22.
His three-week trial was told Lithuanian-born Viktorija was lured to Wolverhampton’s West Park late on April 11 after being contacted by her killer on Facebook Messenger. Her partially-clothed body was found by a dog-walker the following morning.
The court heard her head had been “smashed in”, having been hit at least 21 times.
Following the killing, the youth – who claimed to be suffering from learning difficulties – was caught on CCTV trying to cover up the offence by hiding clothing, deleting Facebook messages and hurling his victim’s phone towards a lake.
He later told police that his Facebook account had been hacked – before changing his story and claiming consensual sex had taken place at the park, where he had left Viktorija unharmed.
The trial was told that Viktorija had a turbulent relationship with her parents, who struggled to control her.
In the months before her death, she had been reported to police as a missing person after spending nights away from home, staying at friends’ homes.
Commenting after the case, Detective Inspector Caroline Corfield: “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.”
Ms Corfield said Viktorija’s mother and stepfather Karolina Valantiniene and Saidas Valantinas, who had reported her missing, were eliminated from the inquiry at an early stage using CCTV footage.
