Malaysian authorities urged to keep ‘open mind’ on Nora’s death

Authorities investigating the death of Nora Quoirin in Malaysia should keep an “open mind” about the causes of her death, according to a former police officer who is advising her family.

Malaysian police say the London teenager starved in the jungle after going missing during a family holiday, but Jim Gamble said a full account of her death has not been established.

Her unclothed body was discovered on Tuesday 1.6 miles away from the resort where she had been staying.

Mr Gamble told the BBC’s Breakfast programme: “We have some of the answers but not all of them.

“The family themselves have always had a question mark of whether there was any criminal activity involved and I think everyone should retain an open mind.”

Malaysian police said Nora is likely to have spent a week in the jungle on her own.

Nora was born with the brain defect holoprosencephaly and was described by her family as “vulnerable”. She went missing from the resort of Dusun on Sunday August 4.

The 15-year-old had died between two and four days before her body was discovered, a post-mortem revealed.

Police said officers had found no evidence of abduction or kidnapping “for the time being”, but Mr Gamble insisted it could not be ruled out.

He said: “In the villa we do know that the downstairs window was broken so it couldn’t have been locked by the family.

“We know why Nora died, in simple terms from starvation, we know where she ended up, but we don’t necessarily know how she got there.”