The lives of the members Foster family were changed forever when their daughter, Hannah, was stolen from them. It happened so close to home – within yards of the home the family shared. And the man who stole their Hannah away would go on to show little to no emotion over the tragedy he inflicted on the Foster family.
Hannah Foster was born on August 31st, 1985 to parents Hilary and Trevor. Three years later, she would become a big sister to Sarah. They lived well, and were happy in their home in Southampton.
Hannah was described as being bright and bubbly. She had a smile for everybody, and was always out to help her friends and family with whatever they needed. She was also a very promising A-Level student, earning straight As all through her educational endeavours.
Hannah was smart and disciplined. She planned on going on to university in order to study medicine. She wanted to be a doctor. No one had any inkling that her bright future would be snatched away on a cold evening in March.
On March 14th, 2003, Hanna, then 17 years old, went out with a friend for a lovely evening. Seeing as they were so close to Hannah’s home, she decided to walk her friend to the bus stop – a scene which is caught on CCTV. Ensuring her friend got on the bus, Hannah waved goodbye and walked down Portswood Road – just a few yards from her house. By all accounts, she was safely on her way home.
However, a man was out cruising for trouble. Driving a white van, the man saw Hannah, snatched her up, and drove away.
Hannah was petrified, but tried to keep her wits about her. She dialled 999 in the hopes that emergency services would be able to detect that she needed help. Over the call, the dispatcher could hear her talking to a man with an accent. But Hannah herself never managed to make direct contact with the operator. “During the 50-second recording of the phone call the teenager could be heard giving a false name, that of her sister, to a man who asked her questions. Towards the end of the call, her voice could be heard saying: ‘Huh… listen… anything.’ before the line went dead.”
The last few hours of Hannah’s life are unclear, but one thing is for certain – Hannah was absolutely petrified.
Hilary and Trevor were worried. They couldn’t get a hold of Hannah at all the following morning. It was unusual for her not to contact them if she was going to be late, or if she was staying out with friends. Calls and texts weren’t going through to her mobile phone. However, those attempts at contact would leave a digital trail.
With little else to do, Hilary and Trevor called the police and filed a missing person’s report.
Two days later, on March 16th, 2003, Hannah’s body was found in a country lane just outside of Southampton. The autopsy shoed that she’d been raped and strangled. A wealth of forensic evidence had been found on her clothes and on her body. Investigators managed to pull a full DNA profile of Hannah’s attacker from her coat.
The Fosters made a public appeal for information shortly thereafter. On March 26th, 2003, desperate for information, an appeal went out on the programme Crimewatch. Watching the program was James Dennis, who identified the driver of the van caught on CCTV as Maninder Pal Singh Kohli.
Kohli worked for James at Hazelwood Foods as a delivery driver. He’d arrived in the UK 8 years prior as an Indian national. He was allowed to remain in the UK by marrying a British woman through an arranged marriage. But it wasn’t all roses and romance.
Kohli was known to friends and colleagues as a heavy drinker, a heavy gambler, and a constant solicitor of sex workers. He’d engage in these behaviours, and then return home to his wife (who was naively none the wiser), and his two sons.
Armed with this information, Hampshire police attempted to trace Kohli’s van’s movements through CCTV footage. Records also “revealed that Hannah’s handset had been moving down the M275 outside Portsmouth at the same time that his distinctive work van was captured on CCTV cameras on the same motorway.”
Upon further CCTV inspection, investigators noticed that Kohli’s van was also captured on footage from a Texaco garage near where he dumped Hannah’s body. The following day, he dumped her handbag. At this point, Hannah’s phone had been switched off. Kohli was once again caught on CCTV footage driving the van. Later that day, Kohli returned the van to his employer, and never drove it again.
Police seized the van from James Dennis and examined it thoroughly for evidence. Police found Hannah’s hair, and her blood on a chrome pole within the van. They also found Kohli’s semen. DNA analysis showed that the semen matched the profile found on Hannah’s coat.
Police had more than enough evidence to arrest Kohli for the rape and murder of Hannah Foster. But they were too late.
On March 18th, 2003, Kohli fled to India. He told his wife that his mother was severely ill, and he was worried she’d pass away without him seeing her. His father-in-law loaned him the money to return to India to visit his mother.
What Kohli’s in-laws didn’t know was that he was lying through his filthy teeth. While in India, Kohli spent his time in his mother’s flat. Word got around that Hampshire police were looking for him. His brother, who was a local police officer and his fiercest supporter, informed him. Kohli cut his hair, shaved his beard, and fled once again.
Hampshire police were now tasked with trying to find Maninder Pal Singh Kohli in India – but he had a massive head start.
When Indian authorities allowed for the Hampshire police to come and investigate, Kohli had been long gone from his family’s care. He’d traveled to Darjeeling, in West Bengal, and was settling in a town called Kalimpong. “Calling himself Mike Davis, he had created a new life for himself in the northern town of Kalimpong.” He’d decided to start over – and that meant marrying a second wife bigamously.
Frustrated and desperate for his apprehension, Trevor and Hilary Foster flew to India to appeal to the public there for help and for information. Hampshire police hoped that the visit would ignite a fire in the public and the authorities in order to bring Kohli to justice.
For ten days, the Fosters held press conferences, which created a media firestorm, and opened up a tip hotline, begging for help and information.
Kohli’s face was all over the media – and he knew he was in trouble. His new wife in tow, he attempted to flee Kalimpong. They stopped in a village near the Nepalese border and stayed with her family. Nepal didn’t have extradition treaties. If he fled, Kohli would be gone for good.
West Bengal police were alerted to the attempt to flee, and took immediate action. Just as Kohli and his wife were getting ready to board a bus, they were stopped by an off-duty officer. Police barely made it in time.
On July 14th, 2004, Maninder Pal Singh Kohli was arrested. He’d spent 16 months on the run. Hannah’s parents watched as he was brought into custody in New Delhi.
On July 28th, 2004, “Kohli admitted to raping and murdering Foster in an interview with 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.”
This confession, though televised, wouldn’t stand. In August of 2004, Kohli retracted his words, claiming that he did not give the statement out of his own free will.
Even though he was apprehended, Hampshire police had a tough road ahead of them. They wanted him extradited to the UK. Kohli did everything he could to stop it from happening. He feigned illnesses, his defence team wouldn’t show up to hearings, and everything in between. Kohli was playing a very, very long game.
After three years, over 100 hearings, and 30 appeals, the decision finally came down. On June 8th, 2007, it was decided that Kohli would be extradited to the UK to face charges. He landed in the UK on July 28th, 2007.
In total, Kohli was charged with murder, kidnap, rape, manslaughter, false imprisonment, and perverting the course of justice.
On December 10th, 2007, Kohli entered a plea of not guilty.
During the trial, which took place nearly a year later, the courts heard Hannah’s harrowing 50-second 999 call. They also heard about all the evidence against Kohli, as well as a detailed account of his attempt to flee.
Kohli’s defence was laughable. He “claimed he had been targeted by his supervisor James Dennis. The claim was part of a defence that at times drew gasps of disbelief from the court. He said that he owed Dennis £16,000 and was having an affair with his wife. In revenge, he claimed, Dennis’ brother had threatened him before he was kidnapped by three men, who tied him up and forced him to have sex with a woman. He realized later that it must have been Hannah as his semen was found on her body, he said.”
The courts found this to be both appalling and absurdly ridiculous.
On November 25th, 2008, Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, 41 years of age at the time, was found guilty of the charges against him. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. He must serve a minimum of 24 years, minus two for the time he served in the UK on remand.
He will remain in prison until at least 2030 – he’ll be 63 years old by the time he’ll be eligible for parole. And hopefully, he will be refused.
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Sources:
Real Crime: Hannah’s Killer Netflix documentary
Man found guilty of Hannah murder – BBC News
Hannah Foster: The Final Hours – Alexandra Topping for The Guardian
Murder of Hannah Foster Wikipedia page