Murdered Essex student was ‘targeted’ for being Muslim, police fear

A Saudi Arabian student stabbed to death in Essex may have been targeted because she was a Muslim, it has been reported.

The woman, named locally as 32-year-old Nahid al-Manea, was wearing a full length robe and head-scarf when she was brutally attacked on Tuesday.

She was found with multiple stab wounds close to her home in Colchester and the near the University of Essex, where she had been studying English.

Police have said her distinctive clothing is a main line of inquiry and are believed to be investigating the possibility that the murder was religiously motivated.

Omar Ali, president of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies, yesterday paid tribute to the victim, who had lived in the UK with her for just six months.

“My heart sank after hearing the traumatising news an innocent life had been brutally snatched away,” he said.

“This is the saddest piece of information I have received in all my years of activism in the student sector.”

He added: “This isn’t the first attack on a Muslim student and certainly is not the last on a member of the Muslim community in the UK.”

Police have confirmed that the woman left her home in Woodrow Way, Colchester at 10am and was found with fatal stab wounds on nearby Salary Brook Trail 40 minutes later.

She was still breathing when she was found but was pronounced dead soon afterwards by paramedics. A 52-year-old man has been arrested in connection with her murder.

Det Supt Hawkings, head of major crimes for Essex Police said: “This crime was committed on a busy thoroughfare where you would expect a number of people to be walking.

“It was a brazen, reckless attack and there is a high likelihood people were there or there about at the time.”

Detectives are also investigating if her murder and the killing of Jim Attfield earlier this year are connected. Mr Attfield, 33, was found with more than 100 stab wounds in a nearby Colchester park in March.

“She was stabbed a number of times. We don’t know how many but two wounds were significant,” Det Supt Tracy Hawkings said. “She had a number of facial injuries consistent with being struck in the face or the back of the head.

“There are significant similarities between both crimes. Both victims sustained frenzied knife wounds. Both were on secluded paths in parks used by members of the public.

“But there are differences such as gender and we can’t discount the possibility of hate crime.”

The Saudi Arabian embassy in London confirmed the victim had a brother in Britain, adding that they had contacted him to offer assistance.

“Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Ambassador to the UK, expressed in a telephone call to the brother of the deceased his sincerest condolences to her family,” a spokesman said.

“He affirmed the embassy’s speed in taking all the procedures for the transfer of the body of the deceased to the Kingdom, highlighting in this regard the embassy will not stop until reaching the aspects of this case.”

Source: The Telegraph