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Sabina Nessa may have been killed by stranger still at large, police suggest

TEACHER Sabina Nessa may have been killed by a stranger while taking a five-minute walk to meet a friend at the pub, police said today. 

The 28-year-old is believed to have been fatally attacked as she walked through Cator Park in Kidbrooke, south-east London, last Friday at around 8.30pm. 

The primary school teacher’s body was discovered behind a community centre almost 24 hours after her death by a member of the public. 

Giving an update at the scene on Thursday, Chief Superintendent Trevor Lawry said a stranger attack is “definitely a line of enquiry that we’re looking at.”

Police said earlier on Thursday that Nessa’s journey should have taken five minutes, but she never made it to her destination. 

The teacher’s murder has shone a spotlight on what’s been described as an “epidemic of violence” against women and girls, with the government accused of failing to act to keep women safe.  

It comes after a series of high-profile cases including the murder of Sarah Everard and sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman.

Reclaim These Streets is due to hold a vigil tomorrow in Peglar Square, Kidbrooke Village, at 7pm.  

Campaign co-founder Jamie Klinger said since Everard was killed in March around 70 women have been murdered at the hands of men in Britain. 

Asked what needs to be done, Ms Klinger told the BBC that the strategy should focus on stopping perpetrators rather than putting the burden of women’s safety on women. 

Referring to Greenwich councillors handing out panic alarms to residents in response to Nessa’s murder, Ms Klinger said: “It’s the whole idea that what we should take more self-defence classes — this is not on women to protect ourselves. We need the perpetrators to be stopped.” 

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said on Thursday that violence against women should be treated with the same level of priority as counter-terrorism, while shadow justice secretary David Lammy called for more action from the government. 

End Violence Against Women director Andrea Simon said: “Six months after the government promised to take action to tackle violence against women following the murder of Sarah Everard, we are yet to see any meaningful transformation in the criminal justice system.”

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