Yemeni billionaire’s son admits involvement in UK killing 15 years ago but refuses to return for trial
Farouk Abdulhak, the son of a Yemeni billionaire, has admitted involvement in the death of Norwegian student Martine Vik Magnussen who was found raped and strangled in Mayfair, London in 2008 but has refused to return to the UK to face justice. Magnussen was 23 when she was found dead in the basement of a block of flats where Abdulhak lived. The only suspect in the case, Abdulhak left the UK for Yemen before Magnussen’s body was discovered and has never returned. In a series of text messages exchanged with a BBC reporter, Abdulhak claimed that Magnussen’s death was due to a sex accident gone wrong.
Although Abdulhak’s father, Shaher Abdulhak, died last year, he had run a Middle-Eastern business empire and was the richest man in Yemen at the time of Magnussen’s death. The UK does not have an extradition treaty with Yemen. Abdulhak, who was 21 at the time of the incident, said he was not prepared to return to the UK, adding that the criminal justice system there was heavily biased and would make an example of him because he was the son of a rich Arab. Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former president of Yemen, was reportedly among his close friends. Magnussen’s father has called on Abdulhak to explain to UK police what happened to his daughter.
