Police investigating the death of a female engineering student have said an assault on her was not racially motivated.

Mariam Moustafa was left in a coma after an attack on February 20 and died from her injuries on March 14.

The 18-year-old was allegedly punched several times during a confrontation with a group of six women in Parliament Street, Nottingham, at 8pm.

The teenager got on a bus at the scene near the Victoria Centre shopping precinct but was followed by the same group, who it is claimed were then threatening and abusive towards her.

Chief Superintendent Rob Griffin of Nottinghamshire Police confirmed that the incident was reported as a racially motivated attack but the investigation has since revealed that this was not the case.

Mariam was taken to the Queen’s Medical Centre in the city then transferred to Nottingham City Hospital where she was treated until her death.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Mr Griffin said the policy in Nottinghamshire is to record a hate crime if anybody believes that to be the case.

He said: “We had recorded a hate incident, however, the investigation has progressed really well… we have been able to establish what happened on February 20, and all the evidence indicates that this incident is not in any way hate-related.

“We now know that a group of six girls were involved in the incident and we believe that we have identified all six of those girls.”

Mr Griffin continued: “There have been many reports about an incident in August last year where Mariam and her sister had been assaulted.

“It had been reported in the media that Mariam had broken her leg and we now know that this was not the case.

“The level of investigation at that time was appropriate and unfortunately no suspects were identified at the time.”

He added: “In terms of whether or not the incident in August was connected to what happened in February – we are open minded and these investigation continue and hopefully that picture will continue to become clearer.”

Mariam’s father, Mohamed Moustafa, has called for “justice” for his daughter, who was “very kind” and “like an angel”.

Mr Griffin said he will be having conversations with both the Egyptian and Italian embassies throughout the course of the week.

The Nottingham-based student was born in Rome where her family had moved to from Egypt in 1991.