The Murder of Hannah Foster
Hannah Foster was a 17-year-old British student. She lived with her parents and siblings in Southampton and was preparing to study medicine at university.
On 14th March 2003, Hannah went out socialising with a friend. At around 10.50 pm, her friend took a bus home and Hannah decided to walk the 800 metres to her own home instead. At around 5 am the next morning Hannah's parents noticed she had not come home and a frantic search began. Initial investigations focussed on Hannah's mobile phone which was still connected, using cell tower records. It was found at a recycling centre dumped along with Hannah's bag. Worry increased for her well being. Sadly the search was called off the next day when Hannah's body was found in bushes on a roadside, an autopsy confirmed she had been raped and strangled. DNA was found on the body but was not matched to anyone on the database.
Investigators looked at Hannah's phone records and found she had made a 999 call to emergency services at around 11 pm, as the operator did not receive responses and the voices on the call were not clear the call was forwarded to Silent Solutions. The call had been recorded and was enhanced. The enhanced recording showed Hannah was in the back of the van when she secretly made the call and that she was being driven somewhere by a male with a south Asian accent. Seven potential vans were identified from CCTV on the route Hannah may have taken.
A supervisor for a nearby food company named delivery man Maninder Pal Singh Kohli as a possible suspect. Kohli had taken a van home that night along a similar route, had failed to attend his shift the day after and had a scratch on his face. A search of the van found blood and semen and Kohli was named as an official suspect. It was soon discovered that Kohli had left the country and travelled to Dehli, India on 18th March.
Little progress was made for the next 15 months. On 10th July 2004, Hannah's parents went to India themselves and made appeals for Kohli's whereabouts, getting the case the wide-spread it needed. Reward money was also offered by Hampshire police.
On 15th July following a tip-off, Kohli was arrested while trying to board a bus to Nepal. While in custody he said he was 'tired of running,' and confessed to raping and murdering Hannah Foster. Kohli claimed he 'had to' kill Hannah as she refused to not report the rape. He later retracted this confession. After three years of proceedings and appeals in 2007, Kohli was extradited to the UK.
On 28th July 2007, Kohli arrived in the UK and was charged with murder, kidnap and rape. He entered a not guilty plea and attempted to claim someone had broken into his van and left Hannah's body there and he had panicked. Kohli also later claimed he was forced to rape and murder Hannah by other criminals. On 25th November 2009, Kohli was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 25 years. Kohli is expected to remain in prison until 2030 when he will be 63-years-old.
