Hit-and-run driver drags birthday girl, 20, to her death for a mile then flees

By Charlotte Gill and Tamara Cohen
Last updated at 8:18 AM on 1st October 2010

A student died after being mown down and dragged for a mile by a hit-and-run driver.

The 20-year-old, who has not yet been named, was hit outside a hospital in an upmarket part of north London.

She was found suffering serious injuries a mile away at around 2am, outside the home of former French rugby international Thomas Castaignede.

Paramedics were unable to save her. It is believed she died on her birthday.

Police say it is possible that the driver is not aware he or she hit the victim, who is believed to be Singaporean. Her handbag – containing a wallet, mobile phone and student ID – was found in the road 150 metres from the body, alongside a clump of dark hair, outside Belsize Park Tube station.

It is thought that the woman was dragged there from the Royal Free Hospital which is about a mile away in Hampstead, where police found her shoes.

One resident said: ‘There were two white plimsolls in the road, a few metres away from the hospital.

‘That must have been where the girl was hit.

‘The police had put white crime scene circles around them this morning when they cordoned off the road.

‘They got moved pretty quickly though. It sounds horrific.’

Police cordoned off a section of road stretching more than a mile as they searched for clues.

Two night buses also remained at the scene and police helicopters hovered overhead.

Detectives were last night trawling CCTV to find out what vehicle was involved. Another person who lives near the Royal Free, who also did not wish to be named, said: ‘My friend spoke to the police officer and he said it was a young girl.

‘They thought that she might have been hit by a truck.

‘The policeman said that they checked her ID and they realised that it was her birthday today. It’s a tragedy.’

Police examined CCTV footage from a shop near the station which showed a black saloon car braking suddenly outside at around the time of the incident.

Shop owner Raja Rehman said: ‘The car was just beyond the Tube. It was an empty road but the car braked suddenly and stopped before carrying on again.

‘It was a black saloon car but you can’t see if there was a person on the car.

‘The police watched it and they said that they needed to have a copy. They thought it was quite important.

‘I woke up at seven this morning and the whole road was cordoned off.

‘I asked the police what had happened and why the road was closed for so far and they said that they thought the incident took place over a long distance.

‘They said that there was a shoe in the road outside the hospital and there is a handbag near my shop with a clump of hair attached to it.’

Resident Rosalind Turner-Wellman said: ‘There is obviously more to this than a normal hit and run because they have cordoned off so much of the road.

‘I have lived here for a long time and it’s terrible to think that someone has died here. It’s so sad.’

Another neighbour in Belsize Park added: ‘The body was found right outside my house.

‘We didn’t hear anything. We had the window open last night and my son wakes up at the slightest noise, so if there had been some kind of crash we would have heard it. It’s very strange.’

Mr Castaignede, 35, said he had not heard anything either, adding that he had been asleep at the time.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1316492/Hit-run-driver-drags-birthday-girl-mile-death-flees.html