Sabina might have been bludgeoned to death with a drinks can, say detectives

By Jake Ryan and Sanchez Manning

DETECTIVES believe primary school teacher Sabina Nessa may have been bludgeoned to death with a red can of fizzy drink, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

CCTV footage which has not yet been released by police reportedly shows her attacker strike her over the head with an object before carrying her over his shoulder towards the park where her body was later discovered.

A police source said officers believed the red item was an ‘object like a drinks can’.

The 28-year-old’s killer remained at large last night but a police source said a man caught on security cameras carrying a ‘red reflective item’ is their prime suspect.

Murder detectives believe they have identified the man in the footage and were urgently trying to find him.

Police yesterday reissued footage of the man, who was seen on CCTV in Pegler Square in Kidbrooke, South East London. The force said the images were captured ‘shortly before’ Sabina’s murder. In the grainy film, the man is seen carrying something red in his hands.

Detective Chief Inspector Neil John, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: ‘People in the Kidbrooke area last Friday may recall seeing this man carrying a red reflective object, and possibly trying to conceal it.

‘Please share the CCTV footage on social media and show the image to family members and friends who may not have seen it. He must be traced.’ Forensic officers scoured an area of Pegler Square on Friday evening. It’s understood that they were looking for the potential murder weapon.

It also emerged yesterday that parents at Sabina’s Rushey Green Primary School had received a warning letter several months ago about a string of attempted abductions by strangers.

Lewisham police issued the alert in May following the reports that four children had been approached by unknown men in neighbouring Bromley.

Ms Nessa had been working at the school in Catford, which has 600 pupils and around 70 staff, for just over a year after she qualified last year.

A teacher at the school said: ‘The Year Two pupils, who Sabina taught last year in Year One will be the most upset, and their parents. It is hard for teachers to reassure children who are nervous about being at school for the first time, while they are putting on a brave face while consumed with grief them

selves.’ Sabina left her flat in Kidbrooke to meet a man for a first date at the nearby Depot bar at around 8.30pm on Friday, September 17. She never arrived there.

Her body, which had been covered with leaves, was found the following evening by a dog walker near the OpenSpace community centre in Cator Park, less than 500 yards from the victim’s front door.