Murdered teenager's parents 'frustrated' by extradition delay of Indian suspect

An Indian court ruled earlier this month that Maninder Pal Singh Kohli should be sent back to his former home in the UK to face charges over Hannah Foster's death.

The 17-year-old A-level student was abducted, raped and killed following a night out with friends in Southampton on March 14 2003.

Her body was found beside a road at West End, near Southampton, two days after she disappeared.

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Today, the High Court in New Delhi halted the extradition in response to an appeal from Kohli who claimed there were problems with the DNA and closed circuit television evidence presented against him.

The High Court put the extradition on hold until it could review this evidence and no date was set.

Hannah's parents, Trevor and Hilary Foster, who have travelled to India several times to appeal for information about Kohli's whereabouts, said today: "It's just desperately frustrating and disappointing."

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"We get highs and lows, it's a roller-coaster, expecting it to happen soon and then hearing it's been delayed again.

"It's completely beyond our control. It's just hanging over us the whole time until we have a UK trial."

She added: "We can't put this part of it behind us. That's the most disturbing thing for our lives.

"We are constantly talking about the evidence, all these claims and counter claims, and the night that Hannah died the whole time.

"We really want to have good memories of her, not clouded by what happened."

Days after Hannah's body was discovered, Kohli, an Indian citizen then living in the UK and working as a sandwich delivery driver, flew back to his native country.

A warrant for his arrest on suspicion of the abduction, rape and murder of Hannah was obtained from Southampton Magistrates' Court in 2003 and faxed to the authorities in India.

Father-of-two Kohli was arrested in India after Mr and Mrs Foster travelled to the country to highlight the case.

As if losing her daughter were not enough, Mrs Foster was diagnosed with cancer shortly after Kohli was arrested, although she is now in remission.

Mrs Foster said: "Although we were delighted some decision had been made, we knew this was on the cards so we are not entirely surprised. "We just hope it will be dealt with as quickly as possible.

"He (Kohli) put his application in last week and they had a hearing yesterday, by Indian standards that's very quick, so it's looking very, very encouraging.

"We just have to bide our time and hope they deal with it as quickly as possible.

"We knew he had a right to appeal. He has fought this extradition so hard for the last three years, but we are just very, very hopeful that now India and the world is watching they will deal with it very quickly and will move a bit faster than they have in the last three years."

If Kohli is extradited to the UK it could be a legal first. The family were told by the Home Office that they have no record of the Indian authorities extraditing their citizens to the UK before.

A spokesman for Hampshire Police said: "We will continue to work closely with the Crown Prosecution Service and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to provide the Government of India with any information required to further this process."