Murder of Mary-Ann Leneghan

Mary-Ann Leneghan[lower-alpha 2] was born on 13 January 1989[4] to an Irish father and English mother. Her parents separated when Mary-Ann was a child; Mary-Ann and her younger sister were then raised by their mother.[2] Leneghan was a former student of Prospect College, where she showed interest in painting and music, particularly hip hop genres.[2] Leneghan began periods of truancy in September 2004,[5] and reportedly once went missing for a month,[6] staying with friends in East Reading without making contact with her mother.[3]

Leneghan was unemployed,[7] and had left Prospect College to pursue a vocational qualification in childcare.[5]

The identity of Leneghan's friend is protected by UK law; the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 grants lifelong anonymity to people who allege that they have been the victim of rape.[8]

In early April 2005, Adrian "Redz" Thomas, a drug dealer and violent criminal[9] from Battersea, used a pseudonym to rent a flat on Reading's Oxford Road near Reading West railway station.[2][10][11] In mid April, Thomas was the victim of an assault in the flat, and was robbed of money, personal possessions, and drugs. He also sustained knife wounds that required hospital treatment, but did not report the incident to the police.[11][12] Thomas believed that either Leneghan or her friend, with whom he was both acquainted,[13] had set him up for the attack.[14][15] He alleged that the girls had left a door open allowing his attackers access to his property.[13] Around this time, Leneghan's friend's house was the target of an arson attack.[6][16]

Thomas went back to London and returned to Reading on 6 May with five other men. Between 22:00 and 23:00,[17] 16-year-old Leneghan and her 18-year-old friend were in a third girl's Renault Clio at the disused Wallingford Arms pub[6][18] when they were kidnapped by Thomas and a group of five other men—Michael Johnson, brothers Joshua and Jamaile Morally, Indrit Krasniqi, and Llewellyn Adams.[14][19] From the pub, the girls were taken to a Nissan car[lower-alpha 3] parked near the Wickes store on Weldale Street, approximately 200 yards (180 m) from the pub.[18] The Nissan had been purchased by Adams, the gang's driver, in the preceding few days.[21][22] The girls were forced into the car boot and driven approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) to the Abbey House Hotel, a guesthouse off the Oxford Road.[2][23] At 01:00 on 7 May, the hotel's night manager let an annexed double room to two men who he recognised and did not see them again.[24] The group's car was parked in the hotel's car park at the rear of the premises, which allowed the rest of the gang and the girls to enter the hotel room without passing the reception desk and night manager.[18]

At the hotel, the girls were raped, drugged, scolded and beaten for several hours.[19] At some point between 03:00 and 05:00,[17] the girls were driven around Reading before they were taken to Prospect Park, some 0.5 miles (0.80 km) west of the hotel.[2][7][25][26] Here, Leneghan was repeatedly stabbed with a flick knife,[14] sustaining 40 wounds including a punctured lung.[27] Pathologist Vesna Djurovic noted that only one of the injuries, a 3-inch-deep (8 cm) neck wound, was fatal.[24] Leneghan's friend was then stabbed before being shot in the head with a home-made bullet; she survived her injuries.[28][29][26] After an indeterminate period of time, Leneghan's friend regained consciousness; Leneghan was heard to still be breathing.[30] Her friend made her way to the adjacent Tilehurst Road where she was found by a commuter on foot who placed a 999 call.[13][31][32] Police found Leneghan's body at approximately 05:30;[33] The Telegraph reported that by the time police had discovered her, Leneghan had been dead 15 minutes.[13]

Following the attack, Leneghan's friend was hospitalised under police guard until her discharge on 1 June 2005.[44][48] Leneghan's funeral took place on 22 July 2005 at Christ Church in Reading. Her burial took place at the town's Henley Road Cemetery.[49] A memorial service was held on the first anniversary of Leneghan's death; Thomas's father read a poem at the service.[50]

A memorial garden was established in Southcote in memory of Leneghan.[51]