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Man found guilty of 2003 murder, rape and kidnap of 17-year-old girl

A UK court has found a man guilty for the murder of teenaged girl who was snatched off the street, raped and strangled five years ago.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 17:53 November 25, 2008
  • Gulf News

London: A UK court has found a man guilty for the murder of teenaged girl who was snatched off the street, raped and strangled five years ago.

Seventeen-year-old Hannah Foster was seized just yards from her home in Southampton after spending a night out with friends in March 2003.

She attempted to call emergency services from her mobile phone, hoping they would be alerted of her ordeal but the call was terminated because she did not speak.

The Winchester Crown Court found Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, 41, guilty of her murder, rape, false imprisonment and kidnap.

After kidnapping Hannah, Kohli took her to a secluded spot where he repeatedly raped her in his sandwich delivery van before strangling her.

He then dumped her body beside a road in West End, Hampshire, and went back home to his wife and two sons.

Kohli fled to India as police closed in on him but a strong campaign by Hannah's parents succeeded in his extradition to stand trial last year, three years after his arrest.

Prosecutors said a DNA sample from Kohli matched semen found at the crime scene, a match probability of one in a billion.

Kohli had claimed he had been forced to have sex with Foster after being kidnapped himself by a work colleague to whom he owed money.

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