Marsha: new appeal to passengers

Scotland Yard today released enhanced pictures of two men who may provide a desperately-needed breakthrough in the hunt for the killer of Marsha McDonnell.

The CCTV images of the two men on a bus boarded by the 19-year-old gap-year student have been digitally enhanced to make them clearer.

Police want to speak to the young men about the last movements of Marsha, who was hit over the head three times with a blunt instrument, probably a hammer, early on 4 February. Officers say she may have been the victim of a serial attacker who could have struck twice before.

Detectives stressed the men on the bus are not suspects in Miss McDonnell's murder but may be able to give them vital information.

She got on the 111 service at 12.07am at Kingston station after a night out at the cinema with friends and got off 10 minutes later at Percy Road, just past the junction with Priory Road, Hampton.

As Miss McDonnell walked along Priory Road she was attacked only yards from her home. She died in hospital the next day.

Police earlier released pictures of eight men on the 111 bus. Six have come forward but two have still not been traced.

The first is described as short, Asian, between 20-30 with short dark hair and wearing an open red anorak. He was wearing a white round-neck jumper with a dark zigzag pattern across the chest and dark trousers.

The second man is also Asian with light skin. He wore a black peaked cap, a black leather jacket and white trousers. Both men got on the bus at John Lewis, Kingston, and off at the Treaty Centre in Hounslow. Both were sitting on the back seat of the top deck.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "The pictures could help jog somebody's memory. It is vital that anyone with information comes forward."

Police say a middle-aged man who was bludgeoned with a hammer and a teenage girl who believed she had blacked out after slipping on ice could also have been victims of Miss McDonnell's attacker.

The unnamed 17-year-old girl suffered appalling injuries at 9pm on 8 January in Strawberry Hill - less than two miles from the scene of Miss McDonnell's killing. She spent 10 days in hospital with a serious head wound, concussion, a fractured cheek and a ruptured eye socket. Despite the extent of her injuries, it was initially thought she had slipped on icy ground on her way home from the shops.

She could remember nothing of the incident but her parents contacted police after publicity about Miss McDonnell's killing. Linking the attacks strengthens the theory that Miss McDonnell was the victim of a random attack by a stranger. Detectives have admitted they face a race against time to catch him before he strikes again.

As well as the close location of the assaults and the similarity of the girls' injuries, both were wearing black coats with the hoods up. Police believe the attacker exploited this to stage an ambush in the dark.

Officers also want to question a man recorded on CCTV on the R70 bus 10 minutes before Miss McDonnell's murder. They want to trace a woman on the same bus between Kingston and Hampton. The bus stopped near Broad Lane cemetery where the man, the woman and another person got off.