Killing of Martine Vik Magnussen

Martine Vik Magnussen, a 23-year-old Norwegian student at Regent's Business School London, was last seen alive between roughly 02:00 and 03:00 GMT on 14 March 2008 at the Maddox nightclub in London's Mayfair district. Friends reported her missing to police the next day, 15 March 2008. Her body was found on 16 March 2008, hidden under rubble in the basement of a block of flats on Great Portland Street, Marylebone. A post-mortem determined she died from compression to the neck as a result of strangulation, and the case was investigated as rape and murder.

Police appealed for a man of Arab appearance, with whom Magnussen was believed to have left the nightclub, to come forward. Investigators established that Magnussen and a fellow student, Farouk Abdulhak — son of Yemeni billionaire Shaher Abdulhak — were seen leaving the club together in the early hours of 14 March 2008 and getting into a taxi. Abdulhak lived in the same block of flats where her body was later discovered. Flight records showed he left London for Cairo on 14 March 2008, and police believe he then travelled on to Sanaa, Yemen, reportedly aboard his father's private plane. On 30 July 2008, the Metropolitan Police formally named Abdulhak as a suspect and listed him as wanted on Scotland Yard's "Wanted" site. As of that date, he was understood by police to be living in Yemen.

Two other people have been arrested in connection with the case on suspicion of assisting an offender: a man in his 50s on 30 April 2008, and, more than a decade later, a woman in her 60s, whose arrest was announced by police on 8 March 2022.

Several items Magnussen wore on the night she disappeared were never recovered, including Christian Dior earrings, snakeskin shoes, a Marc Jacobs handbag, a Guess watch, a silver costume diamond ring, and a pair of blue "skinny"-fit jeans; Scotland Yard published photographs of similar items in connection with the investigation.

As of March 2016, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Partridge of the Metropolitan Police's Homicide & Major Crime Command described the case as "still very much a live investigation," stating that Abdulhak had known for eight years that he was wanted for the rape and murder of Magnussen, and that diplomatic efforts to secure his return to the UK had been unsuccessful. Political instability in Yemen, including the 2011–12 revolution and a civil war beginning in 2014, has continued during the period the UK has sought his return.

In March 2023, the BBC reported that Abdulhak had communicated with a journalist, stating "I don't remember what happened" and later texting that "It was just an accident... Just a sex accident gone wrong." The BBC also reported that a named friend of Magnussen said she would often stay at Abdulhak's flat because of its central location.

Magnussen was born in Nesøya, Asker, Norway, and had studied in Oslo and Poland before moving to London in 2007. On the night of her death she had reportedly been celebrating coming top of her class. Commemorative events have included a march in Oslo on 1 December 2009 and a remembrance event at Regent's College on 10 June 2010, where her father unveiled a tree planted in her memory.