By AFP

London police investigating the 2008 murder of a Norwegian student on Tuesday said they had made an arrest, as they urged a Yemeni suspect who fled the country to give himself up.

Martine Vik Magnussen, 23, was found dead in the basement of a block of flats in central London, after a night out partying at a private members club popular with celebrities.

A Yemeni man, Farouk Abdulhak, was quickly identified as a suspect for her murder but fled Britain, travelling to Egypt then on to Yemen.

Police on Monday said a woman in her 60s was arrested in central London on suspicion of assisting an offender and was taken into custody.

Detective Chief Inspector Jim Eastwood, leading the investigation, said Magnussen’s family had been informed of the development.

“Though it represents a positive step, there is still much more work for us to do,” he added.

“Most importantly, Farouk Abdulhak should be aware that this matter has not, and will not, go away,” he said, promising to do everything to bring him back to Britain.

“His status as a wanted man will remain and we will not cease in our efforts to get justice for Martine’s family.

“I’m appealing to Farouk Abdulhak directly: come back to the UK. Come back to face justice.”

Magnussen and Abdulhak were both students at the private Regent’s University London — then known as Regent’s College — and knew each other socially.

He was also well known to her friends.

Abdulhak, who was 21 at the time and had lived in London since childhood, stayed at the flat in Great Portland Street, near Regent’s Park, where her body was found on March 16, 2008.

A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as compression to the neck. She had also been raped.

A coroner ruled that she was unlawfully killed at an inquest in 2010.