Victim's father urges UK to help in suspect's extradition

The father of a woman who was raped and murdered almost two decades ago has called on the foreign secretary for help to have the main suspect extradited from Yemen.

- BARNEY DAVIS

Farouk Abdulhak is the only suspect in the killing of Martine Vik Magnussen, 23, whose “semi-naked” body was discovered in the basement of his flat on Great Portland Street, Marylebone, in March 2008.

Mr Abdulhak fled to Yemen via Egypt in the hours after the Norwegian student’s death, and despite desperate pleas by Martine’s family and Scotland Yard, the son of one of the richest men in the Middle East has not returned to Britain to face charges.

Brought up between the US and Egypt, Mr Abdulhak is the son of billionaire drinks tycoon Shaher Abdulhak, known in Yemen as the “King of Sugar”, who was close friends with president Ali Abdullah Saleh before the latter’s assassination by the Houthis in 2017.

Mr Abdulhak, who is on the Metropolitan Police’s most wanted list and is the subject of an international arrest warrant, had never set foot in Yemen before the murder. Despite an active Interpol Red Notice, and the revocation of his US passport and dual Egyptian citizenship, Mr Abdulhak continues to avoid extradition to Britain as he has a Yemeni passport, which grants him a haven for now.