THE MAN accused of murdering teenager Hannah Foster has claimed that he himself was the victim of an abduction and was then forced to have sex with a girl while blindfolded and tied up.

Giving evidence in his own defence, Maninder Pal Singh Kohli said his abductors told him they were going to “teach him a lesson he would never forget”.

Recalling the night of Friday, March 14, 2003 – the night Hannah vanished – he told jurors: “I will never forget that night for the rest of my life. I still feel scared and frightened thinking about it now.”

Kohli told the court how he was bundled into a car by two white men who demanded £25,000 within four days or they would shoot him.

The trial has previously heard that Kohli owed his boss James Dennis a five-figure sum.

Kohli described how he had visited The Mitre pub in Portswood, Southampton, claiming to have left at around 11.30pm to go home to Broadlands Road in Portswood.

But before he reached his van he was approached by a man who came out of a dark coloured car.

“He put his hand on my neck and said: ‘Get in the car, we want to talk to you.’ Recalling what was happening, Kohli told the court: “I was thinking maybe they are going to kill me tonight. I was blindfolded, I had no idea where I was.“ He then heard the voice of a different man who said he knew Kohli had been having a sexual relationship with his cousin’s wife, taking his money and blackmailing them.

Kohli said the man then said to him: “We will teach you a lesson you will never forget in your life.” Kohli continued: “They wanted me to have sex with a girl.”

He then went on to describe how he was led from the car to a van and then forced into having sex while blindfolded and with his hands tied.

Asked what he knew of the girl, Kohli said: “I was tied, blindfolded. At that time I don’t know who she is or not. Because of everything and the DNA it must have been the girl (Hannah Foster).”

“Maybe they were taking revenge with a working girl but everything I now know she must have been or may have been in the same position as me. Now I think she’d been forced to have sex with me.”

Asked if he heard anything from the girl, Kohli said: “I didn’t hear anything, no.”

His counsel Abbas Lakha QC asked Kohli: “Do you know what happened to the girl?” To which he replied: “I know nothing, I hear nothing.”

Kohli told jurors he was then told: “If you go to the police, the girl will report you, that you had forcibly sexed with her.”

He said about ten to 15 minutes passed before the vehicle stopped and he was untied and let go and told not to look back.

The court heard that when he got home he slept for a couple of hours before his wife woke him up to go to work delivering sandwiches in Portsmouth.

He told the jury he had not finished his delivery round, having returned early telling bosses he had a bad back.

He explained: “I was scared and tired. I had a feeling they were following me. I saw cars like the car and I thought they were following me,” he said referring to his alleged abductors.

The following day, Kohli told the court how he went to see his father-in-law and stayed there for two nights because he was “scared”. He bought Kohli a return ticket to India and he left Southampton on the morning of March 18, with only hand baggage, travelling to Heathrow on a National Express coach.

In India, he went to see his mother who was still in a coma from a hit-and-run accident in December 2002 and was being cared for at the family home.

He said he called the UK every day to speak to his wife and children who he claimed also had tickets to fly to India on March 31.

Kohli denies the abduction, false imprisonment, rape and murder of 17-year-old Hannah.

Proceeding