GUILTY UK - Viktorija Sokolova, 14, Murdered, Wolverhampton W. Mids, 11 April 2018 *Arrests*

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Legally Bland

Legally Bland

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I've put the date as 11 April as that is when she was reported missing, but she wasn't found till the 12th.

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of a teenage girl whose body was found in a park in Wolverhampton on Thursday.

Viktorija Sokolova, 14, was found dead at 7am in Wolverhampton’s West Park on Thursday. A postmortem examination found the teenage girl had died from a blunt force trauma to her head.

Two teenage boys aged 16 and 17 were arrested in connection with the incident. On Sunday, police charged the 16-year-old from Wolverhampton, and released the 17-year-old on bail under suspicion of murder pending further investigation.

Viktorija had been reported missing the day before she was found, and the case has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), as is procedure in a missing persons case.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/15/teenage-boy-charged-with-of-viktorija-sokolova
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-43781172

A teenager charged with the murder of a 14-year-old girl has also been charged with her rape.

Viktorija Sokolova, who was born in Lithuania, was discovered in West Park, Wolverhampton, on Thursday - a day after she had been reported missing.

The accused, a 16-year-old boy from Wolverhampton, appeared on Monday before Dudley Magistrates Court where he was remanded in custody.

A 17-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of murder has been bailed.

A post-mortem examination concluded Miss Sokolova died from blunt force trauma to her head.
 
Bringing this over...

This is literally just down the road from me. It's certainly shocked the community. Few points to mention:

1. Area is a highly populated multi ethnic area, fairly deprived. Many houses have been converted into bed sits, student accommodation etc with a very high immigrant population.

2. The area is notorious for drugs and prostitution particularly around the park on an evening.

3. The park is the Citys main park. It is closed every evening. It is fairly hard to sneak in once the park is closed. My bet is she was already inside the park when it was closed off or was unfortunately already deceased.

4. The victim lived yards away from the park.

5. There has been complete blackout with regards to whom has been arrested. Even the local grapevine doesn't know and that is very rare!!! I do have a few suspsicions based on her Fb page but will wait to see if i am right

Eta: There is also a fair on at the park at the moment as it is half term. Theres half a dozen or so fairground worker caravans literally within spitting distance of where Viktorija was found. The fair had been closed due to high winds but was meant to be reopening that day


Still no word as to the name of the arrested although word in the local community is that one of them was arrested at their home in a road adjacent to the park.

Rumour also going around that one of them left their bike at the scene. How true that is i don't know but if true leads me to think a panic situation occurred...
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Can someone explain UK law regarding 16 year olds please?
I've read the age of Criminal Responsibility is 10 so from that age they would undergo a normal trial - is that correct?
Also is it usual for public reporting to be withheld when the accused is 16 years old ?
I do understand that under 16 year olds have their name withheld usually, but this poor child Viktorija has already been named in the press.
Just wondering if anyone knows if there will be news released as this proceeds on account of the ages of the victim and the accused. TIA
 
jessie said:
Can someone explain UK law regarding 16 year olds please?
I've read the age of Criminal Responsibility is 10 so from that age they would undergo a normal trial - is that correct?
Also is it usual for public reporting to be withheld when the accused is 16 years old ?
I do understand that under 16 year olds have their name withheld usually, but this poor child Viktorija has already been named in the press.
Just wondering if anyone knows if there will be news released as this proceeds on account of the ages of the victim and the accused. TIA
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West Midlands Police stated ob their FB that the individual would not be named due to their age. I believe its quite common initially for those details to be witheld.

Following any conviction the Judge can allow for the perpetrator to be named in press or failing that they will be able ti be named following their 18th birthday

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sar2them1984 said:
West Midlands Police stated ob their FB that the individual would not be named due to their age. I believe its quite common initially for those details to be witheld.

Following any conviction the Judge can allow for the perpetrator to be named in press or failing that they will be able ti be named following their 18th birthday

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Thanks for responding. I wasn't expecting the individual charged to be named, I quite appreciate that this is always the case in these circumstances.

What I'm not clear about is whether press reporting might have a 'blackout' as events proceed further. Once the accused appears in court are reporting restrictions generally enforced, or can press report but without naming the accused? (Referring to the accused as 'X' for instance).?
 
jessie said:
Thanks for responding. I wasn't expecting the individual charged to be named, I quite appreciate that this is always the case in these circumstances.

What I'm not clear about is whether press reporting might have a 'blackout' as events proceed further. Once the accused appears in court are reporting restrictions generally enforced, or can press report but without naming the accused? (Referring to the accused as 'X' for instance).?
Click to expand...

In the past cases with defendants who are minors have been reported with anonymised names, eg Defendant A and Defendant B.

Although the age of criminal responsibility might be ten, I don't think it's automatically an 'adult' trial, but up to the judge or CPS (Crown Prosecution Service)? In the James Bulger case the killers had a full 'adult' trial, but some would say they were too young for that, I think in general the decision would be made based on the individual charged rather than the crime they're charged with.

Have they clarified whether Viktorija was recently murdered or if it happened closer to the time she went missing? Poor girl and her poor family :-(
 
Amonet said:
In the past cases with defendants who are minors have been reported with anonymised names, eg Defendant A and Defendant B.

Although the age of criminal responsibility might be ten, I don't think it's automatically an 'adult' trial, but up to the judge or CPS (Crown Prosecution Service)? In the James Bulger case the killers had a full 'adult' trial, but some would say they were too young for that, I think in general the decision would be made based on the individual charged rather than the crime they're charged with.

Have they clarified whether Viktorija was recently murdered or if it happened closer to the time she went missing? Poor girl and her poor family :-(
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I've not seen anything definite in MSM regardin time of death but police specifically appealed to the local community for any sightings on the Wednesday evening in and or around the park so im figuring it would have been that evening. I know the local rag (Express and Star) reported that when she was found just after 7am on the Thursday it was obvious she was beyond help.

Interestingly the park is opened no earlier than 7am each morning so she was found pretty soon after the park was opened. From the photis ive seen in tge local paper she wasn't particularly hidden, in fact quite out in the open near the lake which leads me to speculate the park keeper may have been the one to find her as there is a gate pretty close to where she was found.

I have read in MSM (I'll trawl through and try and find the link) that she had recently changed her friends set and was hanging around with people who existing friends deemed were trouble. Tori seemingly came from a very small hardworking family where she was the only child. By all accounts the accused was known and friends with Tori.

I also believe that an independent enquiry (IPCC) will be held not only because she had been reported missing but also she had been in contact with SS although for what it does not say..

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sar2them1984 said:
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....-sokolova-murder-floral-tributes-14540738.amp

Remanded to secure youth detention accommodation.

Link to types of accommodation minors cam be remanded to and the reasons why:

http://trixresources.proceduresonline.com/nat_key/keywords/rem_yth_det_acc.html

Interestingly if he was remanded to a secure childrens unit then there isn't actually any in the West Midlands
The nearest ones are Nottingham and Bristol

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What about Swinfen? Although maybe that's technically Staffordshire? I know someone who worked there and I thought they had a youth section but might be wrong
 
Littlegreenlady said:
What about Swinfen? Although maybe that's technically Staffordshire? I know someone who worked there and I thought they had a youth section but might be wrong
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Swinfen i believe is a YOI for males serving 4+ years. The specific wording of secure youth detention accommodation implies it isnt a standard YOI/remand centre but more a secure childrens unit; but i may be wrong...

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sar2them1984 said:
Swinfen i believe is a YOI for males serving 4+ years. The specific wording of secure youth detention accommodation implies it isnt a standard YOI/remand centre but more a secure childrens unit; but i may be wrong...

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Super, thanks :)
 
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