Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Rebecca murder suspect in prison
A MAN has been jailed by a Lapland court on suspicion of murdering Fife woman Rebecca Johnson.
Czech national Radek Kovac is alleged to have killed his girlfriend Rebecca, 26, whose body was found in the Finnish village of Kuttanen on Saturday.
Rebecca, of Burntisland, was working with the Santa Safari team providing Christmas-themed tours in the northern region of Finland when she was allegedly stabbed to death.
Kovac, 36, believed to live in Stirling, reportedly fled with his dogs into the surrounding wilderness during temperatures of -30 degrees Celsius.
A major manhunt was launched and he was found several hours later suffering from hypothermia and detained by police.
Lapland Police Department said yesterday that Lapland District Court had imprisoned a 36-year-old suspected of murdering his long-term partner.
A statement issued by Finnish police said: “Lapland District Court has today imprisoned the suspect of the homicide, according to the claim of the Lapland Police Department.
“A 36-year-old Czech citizen is suspected of killing his 26-year-old l ongterm partner. The victim is a female citizen of Scotland. The crime is investigated as a murder.
“The suspect has been cooperative but hasn’t been able to clarify a specific motive for his suspected act. Police will continue the investigations by hearing the witnesses and the suspect, and by conducting technical investigations.”
Rebecca’s heartbroken parents have travelled to Lapland, and are being supported by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
A former pupil at Balwearie High School i n Kirkcaldy, Rebecca had declared her love for Kovac on her Facebook page, posting a picture of the couple and saying: “I put my favourite picture of radek and I up. Now more than ever cherish the time you have with the ones you love. I love you Kovac xxxxx”.
Just hours before she was found dead Rebecca, a keen musher, chatted online with friends from the sled dog community about a race she enjoyed in Culbin Forest, Moray, back in 2014.
At a race this weekend members of the Sled Dog Association of Scotland, which Rebecca used to be a member of, will wear ribbons in her favourite colour of purple in memory of a “bright and bubbly young woman who will be missed within the sled dog community”.