Lily Sullivan: Man jailed for murdering teenage girl after she refused to have sex with him

• ITV Wales Correspondent Dean Thomas-Welch reports

A man has been jailed for life after murdering a teenage girl and leaving her body in a pond after she refused to have sex with him.

Lewis Haines, 31, strangled 18-year-old Lily Sullivan after meeting her in a nightclub in Pembroke just before Christmas last year.

The pair had kissed after meeting in the Out nightclub on 16 December and later went to a nearby alleyway together where they became more intimate.

Chilling CCTV footage captured the last moments of Ms Sullivan's life - as Haines led the unknowing teenager to her death.

Swansea Crown Court heard she was later found face down and topless in the Mill Pond, a two-mile-long freshwater pond near the town.

After murdering Miss Sullivan, Haines walked past his victim’s mother as she waited to pick her daughter up from a nearby garage.

Haines, a father-of-one, admitted murdering Miss Sullivan but claimed the killing was not sexually motivated.

But following a two-day trial of facts, Judge Paul Thomas QC concluded 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 on Tuesday.

“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.

"Mr Haines had a great deal to lose. Reasons such as those in my view explain why he strangled Lily in order to prevent her telling people he had tried to get her to go further than she was willing.

"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.”

Haines claimed Miss Sullivan threatened to accuse him of rape and he did not want his partner and family to find out.

“His account of her threatening to tell people what he had done to her does in fact have an element based in truth about it,” the judge said.

William Hughes QC, prosecuting, had argued that Haines “showed sexual interest in Lily” from the time he met her in the venue, despite being “warned off more than once” by friends.

The court heard how Haines admitted they kissed in the alleyway where her jacket, mobile phone and tobacco were later found.

The teenager’s call to her mother at 2.47am had been cut off mid-sentence and Mr Hughes said it was the Crown’s belief that “Lily was attacked at that point”.

He also said that it was their case that Miss Sullivan’s cream-coloured lace crop top had been removed “forcibly” before she was pushed in the water.

Haines claimed he tried to pull Miss Sullivan out of the water, but the judge rejected this saying he had made no attempts to save her.

'A dreadful, callous offence'

Sentencing Haines to life in prison with a minimum term of 23 years and four months, Judge Paul Thomas QC said: “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.”

He said Lily Sullivan’s death had caused “devastation to many”.

Detective Chief Inspector Richard Yelland from Dyfed Powys Police read a statement outside Swansea Crown Court following the sentencing. In it, he described the actions of Haines as "violent" and "predatory".

He said: "These cruel actions have changed the lives of those who knew Lily and the close-knit community of Pembroke.

"The life sentence handed down today to Lewis Haines ensures he will not be able to freely harm others in the community."

He added: "Dyfed Powys Police and our partners will continue to work tirelessly to bring to justice those who perpetrate offences against women and girls in all its forms.

"This sentence is no consolation for the friends and family of Lily but I hope this will be a step forward in the slow process of rebuilding their lives."

Michael Cray of the CPS said: "Haines committed a dreadful, callous offence, murdering a young woman who had her whole adult life in front of her.   

"The shock of this tragedy will be felt in the community for some time.

"Our thoughts are with Lily's family and friends as they deal with the tremendous loss they undoubtedly feel."