Marsha suspect in secure unit

Marsha was killed just yards from her home

A teenager arrested in connection with the murder of student Marsha McDonnell is still being held under the Mental Health Act six months after her death.

Miss McDonnell, 19, was killed by a blow to her head near her home in Hampton, south-west London, in the early hours of 4 February.

The teenager, who is now 17, was arrested in March at his home in Hampton, south-west London.

Police said he was sent to a secure hospital and was unfit to be interviewed.

On Wednesday a Scotland Yard spokesman said no one has been charged with the murder and inquiries were still continuing.

Detectives have linked Miss McDonnell's death to another attack on a teenage girl within three miles of where she was killed.

The 17-year-old girl was left with head injuries after being attacked in Walpole Gardens, Strawberry Hill, on 8 January at about 2100 GMT.

She has no memory of being attacked and it was originally assumed she slipped on ice.

An 18-year-old man said he managed to escape unhurt after a hooded attacker had lunged at him with a blunt instrument in Hampton Hill a few weeks after Miss McDonnell's murder.