29/07/2008

Police Question Six Men Over Honeymoon Murder

Police are questioning six men in connection with the murder of a Welsh doctor shot dead on her honeymoon.

Catherine Mullany, 31, had been staying with her husband, Benjamin Mullany, also 31, at the Cocos Hotel and Restaurant, Antigua.

Mr Mullany, a physiotherapist, is in the Intensive Care Unit at the local Holberton Hospital with injuries including a fractured skull, damage to the spinal chord, brain haemorrhaging and a broken leg.

His wife died instantly after she was hit on the side of the head when their room was broken into in the early hours of Sunday.

It it understood the couple were asleep when the incident happened.

Visitors in a neighbouring cottage heard gunshots at around 5am local time and raised an alarm.

The local Antigua Sun newspaper has said police were treating the incident as a robbery, which went wrong.

Andy Liburd, News Editor of the Antigua Sun said the murder had sent "shock waves" through the whole community".

Relatives of the couple, from Pontardawe, south Wales, are due to arrive on the exotic holiday island on Tuesday.

The families of the couple have said that they are "deeply shocked and devastated" by the attack.

Two family liaison officers are supporting the families and are exchanging information between the Antiguan authorities and the UK's Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

Mr and Mrs Mullaney had arrived in Antigua on 14 July for a two-week stay and were expecting to leave yesterday.

A spokeswoman for the Cocos Hotel Antigua, said they were "co-operating closely" with the families of the couple.

The Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation in Antigua, Harold Lovell said: "This isolated incident has deeply shocked our community and we wish to reassure visitors that Antigua and Barbuda is a safe destination."

(DS)

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A murderer, who was serving a life sentence for the murder of a British couple on their honeymoon in Antigua in July 2008, has escaped from Her Majesty's Prison on Thursday . Ben and Catherine Mullany from Pontardawe in Wales, were married two weeks before being shot by Avie Howell and his accomplice Kaniel Martin.
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