Three quizzed on Mary Ann

Detectives investigating the murder of teenager Mary Ann Leneghan are today questioning three men after a potential breakthrough in the inquiry.

Two teenagers were held yesterday - one in London - in arrests police described as "very significant".

The pair, an 18-year-old and a 19-year-old from Birmingham, were held within an hour of each other in co-ordinated raids. They were being interviewed today with a 21-year-old London man arrested earlier.

Mary Ann and her 18-year-old friend, who remains seriously ill in hospital, were abducted by a gang of six men late last Friday night.

They were raped and tortured before being left for dead in a Reading park. Mary Ann was stabbed and her friend stabbed and shot.

The arrests follow a raid on a flat above a massage parlour believed to be connected to the murder.

A local woman said she had often seen Mary Ann and her friend hanging around on a corner near the property late at night and in the early hours.

The woman said she had spotted them "every other week" on Oxford Road, notorious as Reading's red-light district.

Detective Superintendent Mark Warwick, who is leading the investigation, said the new arrests marked a "significant" development in the case.

Police also confirmed that a third woman - a close friend aged 22 - had been with Mary Ann and her friend when they were abducted.