Who was Martine Vik Magnussen and what happened to her?
MARTINE VIK MAGNUSSEN was brutally murdered in London in 2008 after a night out celebrating with her friends.
Though several developments have been made in the case, the main suspect is still free.
Who was Martine Vik Magnussen?
Martine Vik Magnussen was a business student from Norway.
As a teen, she worked at several fashion retailers in Oslo before moving to Poland to study medicine.
Martine dropped out of the course after six months and moved to London, England, at the start of 2007.
In any social setting, she could lift any sort of atmosphere. She was pure sunshine.
Martine's Father Odd Petter Magnussen
In the autumn of that year, she began studying International Business Relations at Regent's Business School London.
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On the night of her death in 2008, she was celebrating coming top of her class in her course exams.
Martine had an older brother, Magnus, and younger sister, Mathilde.
Neither of her siblings have spoken publicly about what happened to their sister.
Her mum was called Kristin and her father was Odd Petter Magnussen, who has campaigned tirelessly for justice since the death of his daughter.
Martine's parents divorced in 2000 but the family remained close and continued to spend Christmases and birthdays together.
In a 2010 interview with , Martine's father said of his late child: "She was a light, jolly, enjoyable person.
"In any social setting, she could lift any sort of atmosphere. She was pure sunshine."
Martine's childhood pal Hedda Homme said in the same interview that her late friend was "so funny all the time".
She added: "She always made people laugh. She was so happy. Everyone liked her.
"She was always letting me know what she thought. She was honest, you could trust her."
What happened to Martine?
Martine was found dead on March 16, 2008, after being reported missing by her friends the previous day.
An inquest at Westminster coroner's court found on November 24, 2010, that Martine had been unlawfully killed.
Martine was murdered after attending the Maddox Club in Mayfair on a night out.
Her body was found hidden under a pile of rubble in the basement of an apartment block in Great Portland Street, London.
She had been strangled to death, and further examinations found that she had been sexually assaulted.
A number of her belongings remain missing, including earrings and shoes she was wearing on the night she was killed.
Abdulhak is the son of a Yemeni billionaire, and was a former boyfriend of Martine.
Martine and Abdulhak got into a taxi together after leaving the club.
This was the last known sighting of her alive.
Abdulhak left the country soon after the incident, flying to Egypt and then on to Yemen on his father's private jet.
Police have said that he is the only suspect in the case, and have requested that he return to the UK to face questioning.
In March 2023 it was reported that Abdulhak had admitted his role in Martine's death, saying it was "a sex game gone wrong".
Texts in the BBC documentary Murder in Mayfair appeared to show Abdulhak saying: "I did something when I was younger. It was a mistake".
In his purported conversation with journalist Nawal Al-Maghafi he added: "I don't now what happened, it's all a blur".
Abdulhak later told Al-Maghafi that he would not return to the UK to face justice because they would "make an example of me being the son of an Arab".
Because there is no extradition treaty between the UK and Yemen, it is difficult to force him to return
The fugitive, who is on the Met’s most-wanted list and is the subject of an international arrest warrant, did admit that he regretted fleeing to Yemen.
"The fact that he's admitting his involvement means he is, by definition, a murderer."
Other people have been arrested on suspicion of assisting Martine's murder, including a woman in her 60s who was taken into custody on March 8, 2022.
This was hailed as a major breakthrough in the fight for answers in the case at the time, but prosecutors decided not to charge the woman.
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Martine's father said that he had "lost faith" after the suspect was released with no further action.
He told he would, however, "welcome an opportunity to regain the Met’s confidence and to continue the fight to achieve justice for Martine."
