Murder of Hannah Foster
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The murder of Hannah Foster is a British murder case where a 17-year-old schoolgirl was raped and murdered after a night out in Southampton. Foster was allegedly murdered by an Indian immigrant Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, Foster's body was found two days after she disappeared in the City of Southampton.
Foster, a promising A-Level student who had been preparing to study medicine at university, was abducted half a mile from her home in Hampshire on 14 March 2003. Foster's body was found in a country lane just outside Southampton two days later and a post-mortem examination revealed she had been raped and strangled.
Kohli fled to India shortly after Foster's body was found, and was later identified by investigators as a prime suspect in the murder case. After Indian police failed to apprehend Kohli, Foster's parents personally went to India and made a public appeal for information of Kohli's whereabouts. During their 10-day visit, Foster's parents held a series of press conferences as well as opening a telephone "hotline". Their visit soon became a subject of interest in the Indian press, Kohli was arrested five days after their arrival. Hampshire police announced a reward of INR 5,000,000 to anyone whose clues led to the arrest of Kohli.
Kohli was arrested on July 15, 2004 in West Bengal's Darjeeling district while trying to flee to Nepal. While in police custody, Kohli stated he was "tired of running". On July 28, 2004, Kohli admitted to having raped and murdered Foster in an interview to a private television channel. Confessing to his crime, Kohli said that he was forced to kill Foster after raping her because she refused to cover up his crime. In August 2004, he retracted his confessional statement saying it was "not by my own will".
Kohli was held in judicial custody in India pending extradition to the United Kingdom; a final decision to extradite him to the U.K. was handed down on June 8, 2007. on July 28, 2007 Kohli arrived in the UK after being extradited[1].
Kohli has been charged with the murder, kidnap, and rape of teenager Hannah after landing at Heathrow following his extradition from India, he has also been charged with manslaughter, false imprisonment, and perverting the course of justice.
On December 10, 2007 Kohli entered a plea of not guilty to the charges of kidnap, rape and murder at Winchester Crown Court[2].
