A 26 year old British woman, Jemma Lilley, of Stamford, Lincolnshire has been convicted of the strangling and stabbing to death of an autistic teenager in Western Australia.
Liley killed 18-year-old Aaron Pajich at her home in Perth, then buried him in a shallow grave which she covered with concrete and tiles.
When she was arrested, Lilley said murder was on her ‘bucket list’ as something to do before she turned 25.
According to prosecutor James McTaggart, after she killed Pajich, Lilley claimed she was ‘so full of herself and euphoric’ that she couldn’t help but boast about her crime to a work colleague.
Liley was convicted alongside 43-year-old housemate Trudi Lenon.
Liley had previously written a book about a serial killer called ‘SOS’ and went on to assume the identity of the character, the Supreme Court of Western Australia was told, during the four-week trial.
Speaking to The Times after the conviction, Lilley’s stepmother, Nina Lilley, 48, said:
‘The book was a big problem with me. At the beginning I was, ‘Fair enough you want to write a horror story’, but I didn’t like the contents of it.
‘She had always had an obsession with serial killers but she said it was a way of venting her frustration of what happened when she was a child.’
Woman strangles autistic boy to death just to tick murder off her bucket list
The victim – described by his mother (pictured above) as a ‘precious little boy’ – was lured to his death on June 13, 2016, with both defendants blaming each other for the killing.
Lenon told the court Lilley approached the teenager from behind as he installed games on her computer, garrotted him until the wire broke then stabbed him three times.
After the verdict, the victim’s emotional mother Sharon Pajich told reporters she was ‘heartbroken’ and would have to deal with what happened to her son for a lifetime.
His murderers were ‘disgusting animals’ and should never be released, she said.
‘He was my precious little boy, he was my first-born … he was full of life. ‘They (the killers) deserve everything they get for what they’ve done, they’ve taken an innocent boy from his loved ones.’
His father, Keith Sweetman, and stepmother, Veronica Desmond, who attended the trial every day, only said ‘We love you, Aaron’ and were happy with the verdict.
Lilley’s father Richard Lilley, who flew from England to watch his daughter being convicted, said nothing as he left the court building.
A jury took less than three hours to find them both guilty and they will face a sentencing hearing on February 23.
