A man who murdered an 18-year-old on a night out and left her body in a reservoir confessed to his girlfriend “I’ve strangled somebody”, a court has heard.
Lewis Haines killed Lily Sullivan after meeting her at Out nightclub, formerly known as Paddles nightclub, in Pembroke, south-west Wales, on December 16 last year.
The 31-year-old admits murdering Ms Sullivan, but denies it was sexually motivated.
A trial of facts is being held at Swansea Crown Court to determine whether there was a sexual element to the killing before Haines can be sentenced.
The court heard how Ms Sullivan was discovered face down in Mill Pond, a two-mile long fresh water reservoir near the town.
She had been strangled and was no longer wearing the cream lace crop top she had been pictured in that night.
Just hours before, she had been seen partying with friends in the club where she had met Haines through their mutual friend Charlene Jones.
In a statement read to the court, Ms Jones said: “I could tell he was trying to chat Lily up. He was buying her drinks and standing close to her.
“He was being very flirtatious with her. I think he wanted to have sex with her.”
After the club closed, Ms Jones said she saw Haines and Ms Sullivan walk away down the street together and shouted: “You’ve got a girlfriend and a baby at home. She’s only 18.”
CCTV footage shows Haines and Ms Sullivan ended up in Morgans Way, an alleyway leading to Mill Pond.
William Hughes QC, prosecuting, said “a substantial part of the incident” must have taken place there because it was the location where Ms Sullivan’s phone and Haines’ baseball cap were later found.
Two people living nearby the alleyway said they heard a man and woman arguing in the early hours of the morning, with one witness saying she heard a woman scream.
During this time, Ms Sullivan’s mother Anna – who was supposed to pick her daughter and friend Lara Wood up at 2am – was becoming concerned.
She eventually spoke to Ms Wood who told her she was no longer with Ms Sullivan.
After dozens of calls and text messages to her daughter, Ms Sullivan answered the phone and told her mother she would meet her at a nearby garage, but she never arrived.
She last spoke to her daughter just before 3am when Ms Sullivan answered the phone again and said she was just “minutes away”.
The phone call was cut off mid-sentence.
Sometime later Ms Sullivan’s mother said she saw a man walking casually past her car swinging his arms before his behaviour changed and he began wringing his hands, shaking his head and running across the road.
Mr Hughes told the court on Monday: “While she’d not seen him before, her description of the man is similar to Lewis Haines.
“The prosecution believe the person Anna Sullivan saw was her daughter’s killer.”
Haines arrived home at 3.40am and told his girlfriend Maisie John: “I’ve strangled somebody. They’re in Mill Pond.”
Ms John said Haines’ jeans were damp and he had blood on his arms.
She said he was “hysterical” and repeatedly asked to be taken to his mother’s house.
Admitting to her while in the car: “I think she’s dead.”
He later told his mother that Ms Sullivan had called him a rapist and hit him, and that he had strangled her, hit her and pushed her into the water.
Haines claimed to have tried to pull Ms Sullivan out of the water but said she was a “dead weight”.
Ms Sullivan was declared dead at 6.02am despite paramedics’ attempts to revive her.
A post-mortem examination revealed she had bruising to her face and had been strangled, but there was no evidence she had been sexually assaulted.
Central to understanding whether the crime was sexually motivated or not is when Ms Sullivan’s top was removed, the court was told.
The prosecution believe the bralette was removed while Ms Sullivan was on land.
Defence barrister John Hipkin QC said when the item arrived at the laboratory, it was noted as being “slightly damp”.
Crime scene investigator for Dyfed-Powys Police Alexander Morgan confirmed the top was dry when he recovered it, but said it was a cold day and he was wearing two pairs of gloves.
Haines, a father-of-one, of Flemish Court, Lamphey, previously denied murdering Ms Sullivan but pleaded guilty a week before his trial was due to begin.
He could face a life sentence with a minimum term of 30 years if Judge Paul Thomas finds the killing was sexual, compared with a minimum term of 15 years if he does not.
