Hannah Foster

Overwhelming evidence from the Forensic Science Service played a part in convicting Maninder Pal Singh Kohli of the murder of 17 year old schoolgirl Hannah Foster, after he spent more than four years on the run from justice.
Hannah Foster was found murdered in a country lane just half a mile from her Hampshire home on March 14, 2003. Hannah had been abducted, raped and strangled before being dumped. Her body was found two days after she had disappeared.
The Forensic Science Service was called in by Hampshire Police immediately upon discovery of her body. Initial items were submitted to the lab for testing, including swabs taken from Hannah’s body, the clothes she was wearing and fingernail clippings. A DNA profile was obtained which did not match to the victim from a number of these samples, including a blood stain on the back of Hannah’s jacket. This was searched against the National DNA Database - however, no match to an individual was found.
Following an appeal on Crimewatch by Hampshire Police, a member of the public came forward with Kohli’s name. He apparently drove a white sandwich delivery van but had not been in to work since the day of the murder.
When officers visited Kohli’s home they discovered that he had fled the country to go to India. With no suspect to arrest, DNA samples were taken from Kohli’s wife and two sons. From this, FSS scientists were able to deduce an inferred profile for the suspect. When this profile was compared with that from Hannah’s clothes and the swabs, it was found to be a partial match.
With this new information, the Forensic Science Service, led by Senior Reporting Officer Stephen Harrington, turned their attention to the examination of Kohli’s white van for further evidence.
The presence of semen was indicated on the front seat of the van and tests back at the lab later confirmed that the DNA profile matched Kohli. Cellular material from Hannah was also found in the van, proving a crucial link between her and the vehicle. Finally, a chrome pole was found under the front seats with blood on it matching Hannah’s. All of this together proved to police that they had the right man. Whilst the DNA evidence was compelling, Kohli had fled abroad to India and had yet to be traced.
In May 2004 Hannah’s parents flew to India to make a public appeal for information about Kohli’s whereabouts. He was arrested five days after their arrival in West Bengal’s Darjeeling District whilst trying to flee to Nepal.

Despite initially confessing to the crime on Indian national television, in August 2004 he retracted his statement. It was almost three years before he was finally extradited to stand trial for his crime, becoming the first Indian National ever to be extradited from India to the UK. The strength of the FSS’ DNA evidence was key to convincing the Indian authorities to hand him over.
 

When Kohli finally arrived in the UK on July 28, 2007 a reference DNA sample was taken from him. When profiling was carried out by the FSS it was found to be a full match, meaning there was only a billion to one chance that the profile could have belonged to someone other than Kohli.
 

Kohli was found guilty of murder, kidnap, and rape on November 25 2008 at Winchester Crown Court.
 

Reporting Officer, Stephen Harrington said: “The Forensic Science Service always had very strong forensic evidence in this case and we are satisfied we have finally been able to put this before the court. The DNA profile we were able to put together from Kohli’s family helped to reassure police they had the right man and we are pleased that advances in DNA technology have assisted in convicting him of this terrible crime.”