Schoolgirl 'killed by businessman'

Soil found in a car owned by the man accused of murdering a schoolgirl was a "remarkable" match to samples taken by police at the crime scene, a court was told yesterday.

The soil traces were discovered on the accelerator pedal of a Porsche 944 belonging to Adrian Bradshaw, a businessman aged 27, who is accused of killing Vicky Hall, 17, as she made her way home from a nightclub in Felixstowe, Suffolk.

Jurors at Norwich Crown Court were told that in the early hours of 19 September 1999 Mr Bradshaw abducted the girl in an alley near her home and drove her to a village 25 miles away where he suffocated her. He tried to dig a shallow grave but abandoned his efforts and dumped her in a water-filled ditch in Creeting St Peter, where she was found by a man walking his dog five days later.

The A-level student, described as "lively, bubbly and energetic", was snatched yards from her home on a housing estate in Trimley St Mary. She had spent the evening with Gemma Algar, a friend, at the nearby Bandbox nightclub, where her alleged killer had also been on the Saturday night.

The two girls walked the few miles home and parted at about 2.30am. Minutes later Ms Algar heard two screams but thought the noise was from people "larking about", said Michael Lawson QC, for the prosecution.

Other residents heard screams at the same time and one neighbour also reported hearing a distinctive "throaty" exhaust similar to that of the Porsche belonging to Mr Bradshaw, the owner of The Felixstowe Flyer free newspaper, who also lived on the estate.

Professor Kenneth Pye, a soil expert, studied the samples. "The degree of similarity between samples taken from the foot pedal and some of the samples taken from close proximity to the body was in his words 'remarkable'," Mr Lawson said.

Mr Bradshaw denies murder. The case continues.