Man jailed for murdering teenage girl at Wigan beauty spot

A man's been jailed for life with a minimum of 30 years for murdering a teenage girl at a beauty spot in Wigan.

Ellen Higginbottom, who was 18-years-old, was reported missing from home at about 19:20 on Friday 16th June 2017.

Police found her body in Orrell Water Park at about 02:30 on Saturday 17th June 2017.

Mark Buckley, who's 52 and from Preston, pleaded guilty to murdering the youngster.

Our reporter Amy Scarisbrick is at Manchester Crown Court:

Greater Manchester Police have released body-cam footage of the moment Mark Buckley was arrested at his house in Preston:

Detective Superintendent Howard Millington, of GMP’s Serious Crime division, said:

“My thoughts will always be with Ellen’s family and friends, this was an absolutely devastating murder by a stranger of an innocent young girl with her whole life ahead of her.

“Buckley callously killed Ellen in broad daylight. He attacked her in the most brutal way as she was walking around Orrell Water Park before going to meet her friends who were taking their exams.

“I am glad Buckley will now be spending many years behind bars to contemplate the young life that he has stolen away, but I wish that we hadn’t even had to investigate this crime.

“I wish it hadn’t happened and Ellen was here celebrating her A-Level results with her friends and planning her future.

“I would like to pay tribute to Ellen’s family and boyfriend for the dignified way they have conducted themselves in what has been the most awful of times; we can never bring Ellen back but I hope they can gain some comfort in the fact that justice has been done.”

Ellen’s dad Mike Higginbottom has provided the below statement:

“There can never be anything even remotely approaching justice for what was done to Ellen, but what can be done has been done and both Kay and I want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has been involved in bringing about today’s achievement.

“We were tremendously lucky to have shared eighteen years with her and everyone else who knew her will identify with that feeling. She made the world a better place with pretty much everything she said and everything she did.

“We all would have liked more though, and we would especially have liked for her to have had more. For her to have seen the results of all her hard work, for her to have seen her friends fly the nest as they went all to uni, for her to have explored the world that she was just growing into.

“To have all that taken away from her in such a pointless and idiotic fashion fills us with an anger and resentment that does not represent who we want to be. But we wrestle it under control and learn to be better at being people. Because that’s what adults do.

“So if there’s anyone else out there thinking of doing anything even half this stupid, just take one piece of advice. Grow up.”