Image of Peake case witness is released

FRENCH POLICE have released a photo-fit image of a witness they want to question in connection with the death of the British student Isabel Peake, after they received a tip-off in response to an earlier sketch of the suspect.

The man, said to be of North African origin and 25-30 years old, is thought to have been seen around Limoges station the night the Birmingham University exchange student died.

He is described as 5ft 6in to 5ft 11in tall, of medium build and with short, curly hair.

He was wearing a back-to-front dark baseball cap, a dark cloth-type jacket, jeans and trainers and looked unkempt. The image of the man was shown two weeks ago to taxi-drivers working the night Ms Peake died but was not set to be released.

The Limoges-based Populaire du Centre paper said the man was seen with Ms Peake near and in the station and accompanied her on to the train she was taking on a visit home. The newspaper, quoting an official report allegedly obtained from the investigation, said: "Isabel met a young man whom she told she was going back to England to meet her boyfriend. The couple were seen on train number 4412 from Limoges to Paris."

It is from this train, the 0308 Limoges-Paris Austerlitz service, that the 20-year-old Staffordshire woman is thought to have fallen or been pushed.

Her body was found by railway lines near the village of Chabenet on 13 October.