Phone alert let Hannah suspect flee

By Hannah Bayman and Anna Lindsay
BBC News Online, Southampton

The prime suspect for the murder of teenager Hannah Foster vanished after a tip-off by telephone on the day police caught up with his family in Southampton.

BBC News Online has discovered that detectives questioned his wife Shalinder Kaur over an offence in connection with the case, but did not stop her or relatives from speaking to her missing husband to tell him of the police hunt.

Hannah police to return to India

Maninder Pal Singh Kohli had fled to India on 18 March, two days after Hannah was found raped and strangled on the outskirts of Southampton.

After the call, he left his family's home in the Punjab and has not been seen since.

Detective Inspector Tony Adams, part of the murder inquiry, codenamed Operation Springfield, told BBC News Online: "We have no doubt at all that there was communication with him on the day his wife was questioned.

"There are a number of unfortunate aspects to this, but we were never in the position to be certain that no-one could get a call in to him.

"It is an undesirable event that probably we were powerless to prevent one way or the other.

The hunt for Hannah's killer 14 March: Hannah vanishes after a night out with friends 16 March: She is found raped and strangled in undergrowth 18 March: Mr Singh flees to India from Heathrow airport 19 March: He is met by his brother in Ambala, Punjab 27 March: BBC Crimewatch viewer calls police with tip-off 28 March: Detectives question suspect's wife Shalinder Kaur 28 March: Mr Singh vanishes from family home in Punjab 8 April: Indian police issue warrant for Mr Singh's arrest 1 May: Hampshire police team arrives in New Delhi, India 13 May: Detectives fly home from India empty-handed

"Had he been in Walsall, for example, instead of India, then we could certainly have prevented her making contact for a long enough period to get officers from the local police round to that address.

"The difficulty is, even if we had rung our counterparts in India on that day, without extradition papers they would have been powerless to arrest him."

Police raided Mr Singh's house and workplace after a tip-off from a former colleague of his who had seen a BBC Crimewatch appeal.

They found the suspect and his wife had left their home in Portswood, Southampton, on the day the 17-year-old's body was found.

Mr Singh, 35, flew to India, while Mrs Kaur took their children, aged five and seven, to stay with her parents elsewhere in Southampton.

The 33-year-old had Air India tickets to join her husband the Monday after her arrest, but was barred from leaving the country by police bail conditions.

Mrs Kaur will be questioned again by police this month.

Father-of-two Maninder Pal Singh Kohli was a sandwich delivery driver

Mr Adams said: "It is frustrating that having found a prime suspect so quickly, we are now in a position where he is probably sat thousands of miles away and we are here very restricted in what we can do.

"There is virtually nothing we can do other than continue to communicate with our colleagues in India and hope they maintain the momentum.

"It has come to a stalemate."

A team of detectives from Hampshire flew to India to help local police trace Mr Singh in May, but returned empty-handed.

They plan to return to India to continue the hunt for Mr Singh.

In a statement last month Mrs Kaur begged her husband: "Please Nippy [a family nickname], for my sake and for the good of your children and your family, I urge you to hand yourself into the police and come back home so that this can be sorted out."

Hannah, described by her parents as a graceful girl who only wanted to help others, had won a place to study medicine at two universities.