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Hannah's last movements

From the archive, first published Tuesday 9th Mar 2004.

It was the nightmare every parent dreads - when their daughter didn't return home from a night out they were frantic and called police...

The abduction of Hannah Foster occurred as she walked home from a night out with friends on Friday, March 14, 2003.

The 17-year-old had spent the evening in Bevois Valley, at the Sobar and The Hobbit, where there was a band playing in aid of Comic Relief.

In the end the five-strong group decided against going on to Lennons nightclub and they walked home along Portswood Road instead.

Hannah waved a friend off on a bus from the junction with Highfield Lane opposite The Mitre pub at around 10.50pm, then set off on the five-minute walk home to her parents' house in Grosvenor Road.

She never arrived.

A 999 call was made from Hannah's phone at 11pm, just ten minutes after she was last seen alive.

There was no dialogue between the caller and the operator, and the phone cut off after two minutes because there was no direct conversation.

Police could not respond to the call because they had no idea where it had been made from.

It is thought Hannah pressed 999 without her assailant realising.

The recording, which includes snippets of conversation, was subsequently analysed by sound specialists.

Hannah's parents, gas company manager Trevor Foster, 54, and nurse Hilary Foster, 48, were worried by their daughter's failure to come home, as it was so completely out of character.

They tried to call her on her mobile phone but couldn't get through.

At 10.30am on Saturday morning they reported that she was missing to the police.

On duty that day was Det Insp Brian Mitchell, who kick-started the investigation.

Hannah's body was discovered in a hedgerow in Allington Lane, West End, by a passing boy at 2pm the next day, Sunday, March 16.

A post-mortem examination revealed she had been raped and strangled.

Police believe she had one alcoholic drink on the night of her death.

On Monday Hannah's mobile phone and green satchel-type handbag were recovered from a recycling tip in Portmouth.

A number of items in the bag were sent off for DNA examination.

Two days after Hannah's body was found, Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, 36, fled the country, flying from Heathrow to New Delhi.

He left behind him his wife and two young children, based at the family's home address in Broadlands Road, Swaythling.

The next day Hannah's parents appealed for help in catching their daughter's killer at a press conference held at a Southampton hotel.

On March 26 they spoke again on BBC television's Crimewatch UK alongside a reconstruction of their daughter's case.

Hilary Foster told how she knew in her heart her daughter was dead by the time she went to bed the night before Hannah's body was found.

"It's the not knowing what she's been through, and just knowing how frightened she must have been at some stage - and we can't get beyond that."

It was in the days following Crimewatch UK that Kohli's name came into the frame.

Although an all-ports warning was issued it soon became apparent that the suspect had already fled the country.

On his arrival in India Kohli, now one of this country's most wanted men, went to Chandigarh, the capital city in the Punjab region, where his family lives.

Several days later he received a phone call from Britain tipping him off that he was now the subject of a huge manhunt.

And he disappeared.

OPERATION SPRINGFIELD - The Hannah Foster murder investigation:

The police investigation into Hannah Foster's murder, codenamed Operation Springfield, is being run by Det Supt Alan Betts, one of the county's top detectives.

He was notified the weekend of the 17-year-old's disappearance and launched himself into the case with his habitual steel and determination.

In March last year, there were a team of more than 100 officers based at Hulse Road police station in Southampton working around the clock to find the killer.

They examined CCTV footage from both Southampton and Portsmouth for days surrounding the crime.

They conducted a fingertip search of several roads on Hannah's natural route home from Highfield Lane to Grosvenor Road, as well as the area of Allington Lane, West End, where her body was discovered.

A week after Hannah's disappearance they put up road blocks around Highfield Lane and Bevois Valley so they could interview potential witnesses.

The crucial lead came after Det Supt Betts appeared on Crimewatch UK, which featured the case 13 days after the crime was committed.

Soon the investigation had its key witness, one who had already flown the country back to his native India.

A warrant for Kohli's arrest was issued by Southampton magistrates on the grounds of murder, kidnap, false imprisonment, rape, manslaughter and perverting the course of justice.

The document was then faxed through to the Indian authorities via Interpol.

Over the months the reward for his capture has ballooned, aided by a pledge from a national newspaper.

Officers now hope the massive 5,000,000 rupee - the equivalent of about £70,000 - offer will eventually lead to Kohli being turned in.

The sum is worth a small fortune in India, where it could feed and clothe a family for life.

Bounty hunters from Southampton have flown over to India in their quest to clinch the money.

Yet, unless Kohli is apprehended strictly in accordance with the extradition process, these men stand little chance of claiming the money.

Detectives working on Operation Springfield have no jurisdiction in India and must rely on the co-operation of the local police there.

The British team, who have been aided by a Punjabi-speaking officer, have also spent many hours liaising with officials from the British High Commission and Interpol in Delhi.

In May Kohli's brother Ishtpreet, a Punjab police intelligence officer, appeared on Indian television with his father Jagjit, 70, to appeal for Kohli to surrender.

Mr Singh senior, a retired government officer, said: "He has to give himself up.

"If he has done something, he has to face the consequences. If he is innocent, he has to clear his name."

Last September, Kohli's brother Ishtpreet Singh was brought in for further questioning.

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