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Lily Sullivan's mom says 'pure evil' killer looked her 'in the eyes' after strangling her only child to death

Lewis Haines, 31, was sentenced to a minimum of 23 years in prison at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday, August 26, for the murder of Lily Sullivan

CARDIFF, WALES: A father-of-one has been jailed for life after he strangled a teenage girl to death for rejecting his sexual advances.

Lewis Haines, 31, was sentenced to a minimum of 23 years in prison at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday, August 26, for the murder of Lily Sullivan following a night out in Wales last December. The 18-year-old college student's mother, Anna Sullivan, described her daughter's killer as "pure evil," noting how he strangled her while she was waiting at a garage to receive her.

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“I wish I had stopped Lily from going out that night,” Anna said after the sentencing. She noted how Lewis walked past her car after he had killed her daughter. "He looked me straight in the eyes knowing what he had done,” she added. During sentencing, Judge Paul Thomas QC told the killer, "You strangled her face-to-face, 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." The judge said Lily's death had caused "devastation to many."

Detective chief inspector Richard Yelland described Lewis Haines as "violent and predatory" while speaking outside Swansea Crown Court. "On the evening of December 17 last year 18-year-old Lily Sullivan enjoyed an evening out with friends," he said. "In the early hours of the following morning, the violent and predatory actions of Lewis Haines took the life of Lily in an attempt to satisfy his own needs. Lewis Haines passed numerous opportunities to seek help when fleeing the scene of his crime. These cruel actions have changed the lives of all those who knew Lily and the close-knit community of Pembroke."

The 31-year-old met his victim at a nightclub in Pembroke. The pair reportedly kissed after meeting in the Out venue on December 16 and later went to a nearby alleyway together where they reportedly became more intimate. Lily was later found face down and topless in the Mill Pond, a two-mile-long freshwater reservoir near the town. The father-of-one confessed to the murder but denied sexual misconduct. However, Judge Paul Thomas QC concluded after a trial of facts that Lewis Haines had killed the teenager after she rebuffed his sexual advances.

“It is clear that Lewis Haines wanted to ensure that Lily died. His intention was to silence her,” the judge said. “He didn't want anyone to know what had happened in the lane. I am sure, however, having been in that lane for some time with Lily and having had intimate contact with her up to a point, Lily decided that she was going home to meet her mother. She made it clear from the phone call if nothing else to her mother that she did not want the intimacy between her and Lewis Haines to go as far as sexual intercourse. Fuelled as he was by drink, I am sure that Lewis Haines was frustrated by this because he had expectations and hopes that it would go further," Thomas added.

The killer claimed the 18-year-old threatened to accuse him of rape and he did not want his partner and family to learn about what transpired between them. Prosecutor William Hughes QC argued Lewis “showed sexual interest in Lily” from the time he met her in the venue and admitted they kissed in the alleyway where her jacket, cell phone, and tobacco tin were later found. The teenager had called her mother at 2.47 am but had been cut off mid-sentence, and Hughes said authorities believe that “Lily was attacked at that point." The prosecution argued that Lily's cream-colored lace crop top had been removed “forcibly” before she was pushed into the water. However, the defense claimed there was no forensic evidence of sexual contact between the pair or evidence the top had been ripped from her body as it remained intact.

As mentioned, Lily's mother was talking to her on the phone moments before the attack, but the line cut out. She attempted to call her daughter 30 times but to no avail. Their last conversation reportedly took place when Lily told her mother she will be meeting her at the garage. “I’m on my way,” she had said. “I’m a couple of minutes away. I’m nearly there.”

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The court heard how Haines was crying and hysterical when he arrived home at 3.40 am and told his girlfriend Maisie John that he had killed somebody. John told the authorities that Haines' jeans were damp and he had blood on his arms. She recalled him being "hysterical" and repeatedly asking to be taken to his mother's house. He reportedly admitted en route, "I think she's dead." The Crown Prosecution Service released CCTV footage showing Lily and Haines walking on the empty streets after leaving the venue. Haines can be seen taking the teenager's purse in one clip, the Independent reported.