On the early morning of 7 May 2005, 16-year-old Mary-Ann Leneghan[b] was stabbed to death in Prospect Park in Reading, Berkshire, UK.

The previous evening, Leneghan and a friend had been kidnapped and subjected to hours of assault, rape, and drugging in a local hotel.

[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.

[7] 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.

Between 22:00 and 23:00 BST,[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.

[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.

[17] The night manager at the Abbey House Hotel subsequently provided a positive identification of Thomas during an identity parade.

[36][37] The same day, police confirmed that they were investigating links between the murder and the arson attack that was carried out on the home of the 18-year-old girl two weeks before the kidnap.

[28] The judge, David Penry-Davey, recommended that Krasniqi, who was born in Afghanistan and entered the UK as a Kosovan refugee in the early 2000s,[45] be deported to Kosovo in the event of his release.

[28] Shortly after the sentencing, on 3 May, Shadow Home Secretary David Davis MP told Parliament that Krasniqi had been recommended for deportation on his 18th birthday which fell in the two months preceding the murder.

Krasniqi was found guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm; the attack was described as a retaliation against Krstić's involvement in the Bosnian genocide.

[44][48] Leneghan's funeral took place on 22 July 2005 at Christ Church in Reading, and she was buried at the town's Henley Road Cemetery.