Student battered to death after night out

A student was beaten to death yards from her home after a night out with friends, police said yesterday.

Marsha McDonnell, 19, was found in the street at Hampton, south-west London, suffering from head injuries. She is believed to have been attackedshortly after getting off a bus on her way home. A post-mortem examination concluded that Ms McDonnell, who was taking a gap year before going to college, died from head injuries caused by a blunt instrument. The motive for the murder at about midnight on Tuesday is unclear. Her bag, mobile telephone and cash were left with her. Preliminary tests suggested she had not been sexually assaulted.

Ms McDonnell, said by her family to be a "brilliant violinist", had emergency surgery but her life-support machine was turned off yesterday.

She was attacked about 100 yards from her home, where she lived with her parents, two sisters and a brother. Her parents, Ute and Phil, said they had not been able to bring themselves to break the news to Ms McDonnell's five-year-old brother, Jack.