MYSTERY still surrounds the death of a teenager whose body was found at a beauty spot in 1995.

Nobantu Zani, known as Mandy, was 15-years-old when her body was discovered by a walker at Druid's Altar, in St Ives, Bingley, crudely covered with branches and with her chiffon scarf tied round her neck.

She had moved to the United Kingdom from South Africa 10 years earlier after her freedom fighting father was shot dead.

She was last seen alive at a party in Manningham on September 16, 1995 and pathologists believe she died some time between then and September 20.

Police believed the teenager could have led a double life as she was known to frequent amusement arcades and cafes in the Manningham and Bradford city centre areas.

Mandy, of Dirkhill Road, Great Horton, regularly played truant from Buttershaw Upper School and had not been seen at home since September 9.

Her family had no idea where she was staying and it emerged the Bradford education authority had not made any attempt to contact her mother even though the teenager had not turned up to school once during the term.

She is said to have spent her final days in the amusement arcades and cafes of Lumb Lane, yet no-one in authority knew where she was.

A year after her death, police said they believed someone was shielding the youngster's killer and detectives said they were convinced at least one person knew the identity of the killer.

A lengthy murder investigation failed to track down her killer and at her inquest in 1998, Bradford coroner Roger Whittaker said there was not enough evidence to record a verdict of unlawful killing.

Dr Christopher Milroy, Home Office pathologist, told the inquest that he still believed her death was due to strangulation with a ligature, but there were two other possible causes he could not rule out. She may have died of alcohol intoxication, or of a head injury - either accidental or deliberate. The decomposition of the body meant he could not be sure.

Eventually all lines of inquiry were exhausted and the incident room was closed, said Det Supt Tony Whittle, adding the inquiry would always remain open and police would always want to hear fresh information.

Mandy's father Thami Zani was shot dead while an active member of the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) which fought alongside Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) against the apartheid government.