Hannah Foster made the call in the hope the operator would hear the conversation with Marinder Pal Singh Kohli, Winchester Crown Court was told.

But the operator could not hear what was going on in the vehicle as the girl was being driven off, and the call was cut off by an automatic system designed to stop the emergency lines being clogged up by people accidentally calling 999.

The phone belonging to the brilliant 17-year-old student, who was intending to go to medical school, was found the next day. Her handbag was found dumped in Southsea.

Jurors also heard evidence that Hannah's blood was found in a van used by 40-year-old Kohli. They were told later DNA tests concluded there was a one in a billion chance of the semen being from anyone else other than Kohli.

Hannah, from Southampton and then 17, was found strangled on 16 March 2003 in Southampton two days after she went missing following a night out with friends.

'It was obvious the motive of Hannah's abduction was sexual and she had been raped and murdered,' Mr Haggan told the court.

'He snatched her from the street, he drove off with her in his van, he found somewhere quiet, he raped her, he then strangled her and he dumped her body in Allington Lane.'

Two days after Hannah's body was found, Mr Kohli took a flight to India, the jury heard.

Detectives began checking out Kohli after his supervisor at the sandwich delivery firm where he worked saw the case on BBC's Crimewatch and became suspicious.

The delivery van was seized and semen stains and Hannah's blood were discovered inside, said Mr Haggan and the 'pieces of the jigsaw soon went into place'.

Kohli denies her murder, and charges of rape, kidnap and false imprisonment.

The trial continues.