Abduction fear over murdered girl

The girl's body was found by police

A 16-year-old girl whose body was found in a park may have been abducted with a friend by a group of men in a car and later murdered, say police.

Mary-Ann Leneghan died after she and an 18-year-old friend were attacked in Prospect Park, Reading, Berkshire.

A post mortem revealed she had died from a single stab wound to the neck. Her friend is seriously injured.

Police say the girls were seen in a car with at least six men and believe they may have been abducted and assaulted.

We're not sure whether they knew the males and we're certainly not happy that they actually went with consent Det Supt Mark Warwick

Thames Valley Police said that at some time between 0300 BST and 0500 BST, the girls left the Abbey Guest House on Connaught Road with up to six men in a car.

The car has been described as a maroon or burgundy four-door saloon and had loud music coming from it.

Det Supt Mark Warwick said that the girls may have been abducted and subjected to attacks over a number of hours.

He said there had been "serious assaults throughout the evening, culminating in the death of the 16-year-old".

"We're not sure whether they knew the males and we're certainly not happy that they actually went with consent.

"These girls may have been in some distress from the moment they left the car."

We only got the phone call on Saturday. It still hasn't really sunk in Bertie Leneghan

He said that the men police are looking for may be of mixed race, white or Afro-Caribbean.

The 18-year-old girl raised the alarm just after 0500 BST on Saturday morning on Tilehurst Road and the body of the 16-year-old was found by police in Prospect Park.

At a press conference on Sunday the dead girl's father Bertie Leneghan, 50, said he had no idea what she had been doing in the park in the early hours of Saturday.

He said: "There's not much I can say really.

"We only got the phone call on Saturday. It still hasn't really sunk in.

"I went up this morning and put some flowers there."

Site of the attack on the girls in Prospect Park, Reading

He said that Mary-Ann had left school but was not working.

"She was very clever. She was very artistic, decorating glasses and all that.

"But I think she just got in with the wrong crowd," he added.

Mr Leneghan has been to see Mary-Ann's mother Sue, 54, from whom he separated nine years ago, and said that she too was still traumatised by her daughter's death.

"I went to see the mother yesterday and our whole family was there.

"She was just like a zombie, she was staring into space, she couldn't talk to you or nothing," he said.

Mary-Ann had one sister, Mandy, who is aged about 30 and a brother, Sean, who is 24.

Three men arrested in connection with the attack have been released on bail, police said.