A schoolgirl whose body was discovered in what police believe may have been a staged car crash had reportedly told her friends she had a secret date with an older man that weekend.
Megan Bannister, who would have sat her first GCSE at Wigston College in Leicester on Wednesday, was found in the back seat of a black Vauxhall Astra which had been involved in a collision with a motorbike in Enderby, Leicester, on Sunday morning.
Police said the 16-year-old’s injuries were not consistent with those from a vehicle accident and have launched a murder probe. The men in the car escaped with minor injuries while the motorcyclist is fighting for his life.
According to The Telegraph, Megan had told friends she had a date with a man in his late 20s, whom she had met at a club the previous weekend. The newspaper adds she had arranged to meet him on Saturday after telling her mother she would be at a sleepover with a friend.
The source, from Leicester, said: “She met a man at the weekend and she was due to go and see him again on Saturday night. She was really excited about it and had told her parents she was going to stay at a friend’s house.”
Two men from Leicester, aged 27 and 28, have been arrested on suspicion of murder and police have until Wednesday evening to charge or release them.
An initial post-mortem examination was inconclusive and further tests are being conducted to find out exactly how Megan died. However, her death is not believed to have been the result of a road traffic collision.
On Wednesday it emerged Megan had written on Twitter in October: “My life is so emotionally unstable like stop.” And in March, she posted: “Another person to take me for a mug.”
Her parents Tony and Carol have six other children including her twin brother Mason who wrote on Facebook: “Goodbye to my twin”
Megan’s second cousin Adam Flanagan also wrote: “Thank you to everyone for their kind words.. we are still devastated by this news about Megan. We are trying to hold on to each other and support one another.
“It’s just a shame she was taken so soon. We all hope she gets the justice she deserves.”