|
Uber driver confesses to killing British diplomat in Beirut, says source
A Lebanese Uber driver has confessed to killing a British diplomat in Beirut, a judicial source has told the Guardian. The body of Rebecca Dykes was found on the side of a motorway in the early hours of Saturday morning. Local police suggested she had been strangled.
Her body was found without any identity papers on the Metn highway, which leads out of the Lebanese capital to the north-eastern suburbs. A postmortem suggested she had died at about 4am on Saturday.
Dykes, who was believed to be 30 years old, had spent the evening with friends at a cafe in Gemmayze, a district of Beirut known for its bars and restaurants. She is thought to have left on her own at around midnight. The suspect arrested on Monday morning has been named as Tariq H, a taxi driver for Uber.
The source said preliminary investigations showed the killing was not politically motivated, and that the suspect had confessed to the crime. The source said Dykes had hired the driver using the ride-hailing app. Lebanon’s state news agency, NNA, said the vehicle that picked her up was identified using CCTV footage.
The results of two autopsies showed that Dykes had not been raped, contrary to media reports, but investigators believe the suspect had attempted to sexually assault her, the source said. A spokesman for Uber said in an email: “We are horrified by this senseless act of violence. Our hearts are with the victim and her family. We are working with authorities to assist their investigation in any way we can.”
The British ambassador to Lebanon, Hugo Shorter, tweeted about Dykes’s death: “The whole embassy is deeply shocked, saddened by this news. My thoughts are with Becky’s family, friends and colleagues for their tragic loss. “We’re providing consular support to her family and working very closely with Lebanese authorities who are conducting the police investigation.”
A family spokesman said: “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Rebecca. We are doing all we can to understand what happened. We request that the media respect our privacy as we come together as a family at this very difficult time.”
Dykes worked as a programme and policy manager with the Department for International Development and as a policy manager with the Libya team at the Foreign Office, according to her LinkedIn page. She had previously worked as an Iraq research analyst with the Foreign Office. She had a degree from Manchester University and a masters in international security and global governance from Birkbeck, University of London.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “Following the death of a British woman in Beirut, we are providing support to the family. We remain in close contact with local authorities. Our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time.”
The information branch of Lebanon’s internal security forces, the intelligence department of the police, is conducting the investigation.
_________________
IDFIMH
|
Login
Register
FAQ
