The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Police arrest man, 38, after images released in hunt for park killer
A38-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of teacher Sabrina Nessa, the Metropolitan Police said last night.
The suspect was arrested at an address in Lewisham yesterday and is being held in custody.
The force issued CCTV images of a man walking in Pegler Square, Kidbrooke, on the evening Ms Nessa was attacked as well as an image of a silver vehicle they believe he has access to.
Detective Chief Inspector Neil John, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “Our team have been working tirelessly to find the person responsible for Sabina’s murder and this has included an extensive trawl of CCTV, work which remains ongoing.
“We would ask anyone – especially those in Kidbrooke and the wider area of Lewisham and Greenwich – to take a careful look at these images to check whether you know who this man is or have seen him over recent days.
“Any information as to his identity or whereabouts could be vital for our investigation so we are asking you to share this image far and wide to ensure as many people as possible see it.”
Ms Nessa, 28, had been walking to meet a friend at a pub in Kidbrooke, southeast London, on Friday on a journey that should have taken just five minutes when she was fatally attacked near Cator Park.
Her body was found near the OneSpace community centre at Kidbrooke Park Road in the Royal Borough of Greenwich at around 5.30pm on Saturday.
This is the second arrest the Metropolitan Police has made in connection with the attack.
On Saturday, detectives arrested a man in his 40s on suspicion of murder,
who was then released under further investigation.
Ms Nessa’s body was found by a member of the public almost 24 hours after her death.
Speaking at the park, where flowers had been laid beside a police cordon yesterday, Detective Chief Superintendent Trevor Lawry said he is “keeping a completely open mind” on what the motive of the attacker may have been.
Asked by reporters why it took police so long to find her in a small and busy park, Mr Lawry added: “It was found by somebody walking their dog and it was off the track that you would normally walk so
that’s not that unexpected.” Ms Nessa’s death comes just months after the killing of Sarah Everard, who was abducted in Clapham, south London, and just over a year after sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman were murdered at a park in Wembley, north London.
Mr Lawry insisted the streets of the capital were safe for women and officers were listening to concerns.
He said: “The streets are safe for women. I’d like to reassure the public around that, I’d like to make sure that people are free to walk around free from fear and my officers will make sure that that can take place.”
On whether the Met had changed its approach to policing violent crime against women following these murders, he added: “I think the main things that are changing are that one, we’re listening to people, we’re understanding where people are feeling not so safe and we’re putting out patrols to make sure that we do that.”
Downing Street said the prime minister’s thoughts were with the family and friends of Ms Nessa.
A spokesman for Boris Johnson said: “The prime minister’s focus is on making sure that we make our streets safe for absolutely everybody.”
A post-mortem on Ms Nessa, carried out on Monday, was inconclusive.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said violence against women should be treated with the same level of priority as counter terrorism following Ms Nessa’s murder.
Speaking to the PA news agency yesterday, Mr Khan said: “I think it is an epidemic and I think it’s really important that people like me, who have not had to live the experiences of women and girls, listen to the experience of women and girls and work with them to have policies that address this awful issue.”