UK diplomat abducted and murdered in Beirut
A BRITISH diplomat has been found murdered in Beirut after being strangled and reportedly sexually assaulted.
Rebecca Dykes, 30, from London, who had been working for the Department for International Development (DFID) in the Lebanese capital since January, was killed after leaving a bar in the Gemmayzeh area of the city on a night out with friends on Friday.
She had been at the bar for a leaving party of a colleague at the British embassy and had left just after midnight. She was abducted some time afterwards and killed. Her body was found next to the Metn highway several miles away. Lebanese media reported that choke marks were found on her neck.
A coroner said the first autopsy showed clear signs of sexual assault. Police sources told The Daily Telegraph the first autopsy revealed the cause of death as strangulation. They said they did not believe the attack to be politically motivated.
A friend said: “It’s horrific. We had no idea what happened to her until we got a call today to go to the police station to give statements.”
Miss Dykes had worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) since 2010, previously in Libya and Iraq.
She is thought to have grown up in Hong Kong, but attended Malvern St James Girls boarding school in Worcestershire before studying anthropology at Manchester University and International Security and Global Governance at Birkbeck, University of London.
In a statement, her family said: “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Rebecca. We are doing all we can to understand what happened.”
Hugo Shorter, the British ambassador to Lebanon, said: “The whole embassy is deeply shocked, saddened by this news.”
A spokesman for DFID said: “Our thoughts are with Becky’s family and friends at this very upsetting time. There is now a police investigation and the FCO is providing consular support to Becky’s family and working with the local authorities.”