Uber driver arrested over Beirut murder of UK diplomat has a criminal record
AN UBER driver with a criminal record was arrested yesterday over the murder of a British embassy worker in Lebanon, raising serious questions as to how the man’s convictions were not discovered before he was hired.
Rebecca Dykes, 30, who had been working for the Department for International Development, was found dead by the side of a highway leading out of Beirut on Saturday.
A post-mortem investigation suggested she had been strangled with a rope and police sources told The Daily Telegraph she had been raped.
The man, identified as Tarek Hesso, a Lebanese national, was arrested at 3am yesterday, according to security sources. Uber confirmed the 41-yearold man was a driver with the company, that he had been working for them for two months and had passed criminal background checks.
“Becky had a love of travelling, and was passionate about helping people,” her family said in a statement yesterday. “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.”
Miss Dykes, from London, had been at a bar on Friday night for a British embassy colleague’s farewell party in the central Gemmayzeh neighbourhood of the city. She left before mid- night, telling friends she had an early flight home to catch for Christmas.
CCTV footage showed Miss Dykes getting into a black 4x4-style car.
The suspect, who has served time in prison for drug offences, drove her to the Achrafiyeh neighbourhood where she lived, but did not drop her there.
She had booked the ride using the Uber app, whose driver identification and rating system is seen by many, especially women, as offering better safety guarantees than hailing a cab off the street.
The driver “tried to rape her and when she resisted he strangled her ... took her wallet and threw her in a dumpster”, according to a security official. Police traced the suspect’s licence plate through surveillance cameras on the highway, where Miss Dykes’s body was dumped around 4am.
A spokesman for Uber said: “We are working with authorities to assist their investigation in any way we can.”
British officials were thought to have concerns about the speed of the arrest.
“The Brits are very sceptical,” a Western diplomat told The Telegraph.