Jail past of Uber driver held over rape and murder of British diplomat
AN UBER driver who has served time in jail was yesterday arrested over the murder and rape of a British diplomat in Beirut.
Tarek Hesso, 35, was traced on CCTV and is understood to have confessed to the brutal killing on 30-year-old Rebecca Dykes.
His arrest came less than 48 hours after her body was ditched by a motorway several miles from the nightspot where she was last seen hopping into a taxi around midnight.
Miss Dykes’ family yesterday described her as ‘simply irreplaceable’ and said they ‘would never recover from the loss’. It is thought the diplomat, who worked at the British Embassy in Beirut, was abducted and strangled on Friday night just a day before she was due to fly home for Christmas.
She was found with a rope tied around her throat, and her clothing had been ripped, Lebanese police sources said.
Initial post-mortem examination suggested she may have been killed during an attempted rape early on Saturday.
Security sources said the suspect had previously been arrested for drugs and had served prison sentences for other offences. The revelation left Uber bosses red-faced after they had earlier
‘We will never fully recover’
insisted that the driver had passed screening processes and checks did not uncover his criminal record. The taxihailing service tried to pin the blame on the Lebanese government, which it said conducted all background checks on drivers before giving them a license.
Although police are understood to have secured a confession from the suspect, a former colleague of Miss Dykes said there were disturbing questions about her death.
They described her as extremely security conscious and ‘ highly-trained’ in anti-kidnap measures. Miss Dykes had been celebrating at a leaving do in a bar popular with expats in the trendy Gemmayzeh district of the city with five other girls on Friday night.
She is understood to have ordered an Uber taxi through her phone and her request was allegedly accepted by Hesso. Her death has shattered her family who were expecting her to fly home the following day.
Her father Philip, an Oxford-educated barrister who is the former Assistant Solicitor General in Hong Kong and chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Council, flew to Beirut yesterday. Her mother Jane Houng, a Cambridge- educated children’s author, lives in China where she has remarried after their divorce some years ago.
In a statement issued on behalf of the parents and her sister, Harriet, who is also a lawyer, the family said: ‘ Becky was genuine, generous, and loving, as anyone who knew her would agree.
‘She was intelligent, ambitious, and dedicated to her work.
‘Becky had a love of travelling, and was passionate about helping people. She always wanted to make the world a better place – her humanitarian work in Beirut was testament to that.
‘For Becky to have her life cruelly taken away in these circumstances is devastating to our family. Becky is simply irreplaceable and we will never fully recover from this loss.’ Miss Dykes had been working in Beirut as the programme and policy manager for the Department for International Development since January 2017.
Whitehall officials have described her death as a random tragic attack saying the preliminary investigation indicated her killing ‘was not politically motivated’.
But security sources are investigating if she had been deliberately targeted because of her work.
A source told the Mail: ‘She was well trained in anti-kidnap measures and counter- surveillance. She had a deep understanding of the Middle East. It is difficult to believe that one individual could have acted alone.’ A former colleague said Miss Dykes, a keen runner, had been identified by bosses as someone who could ‘rise quickly through the ranks’. Another friend told Sky News: ‘She was a very cautious, astute and highly intelligent woman. She had the highest level of security training. She was very charming, sociable and dedicated to her work. She wasn’t the kind of girl to be walking around on her own. She was always in control.’
The Foreign Office advises against travel to parts of Lebanon, including some areas of Beirut.
Born in Hong Kong, Miss Dykes went to Malvern Girls’ College in the UK and Rugby School.
She studied anthropology at the University of Manchester, and has a masters from Birkbeck, University of London. Hugo Shorter, the British Ambassador to Lebanon, tweeted: ‘The whole embassy is deeply shocked, saddened by this news.’ Tributes were paid in the House of Lords yesterday. The International Development minister Lord Bates said: ‘It reminds us of the sacrifice which is made by over 1,200 DFID personnel who work around the world, often in the most difficult and dangerous of environments.’
A spokesman for Uber said: ‘We are horrified by this senseless act of violence. Our hearts are with the victim and her family.’