Tragic Julie’s mystery injuries
Hotel worker suffered more than 70 bruises before death
The extent of the injuries suffered by a Scots hotel worker before her death in Israel can be revealed today.
Autopsy reports show Julie Pearson had scores of bruises all over her body and serious internal bleeding before she died in 2015.
Police insist she died of natural causes but her family believe her death may be linked to a beating inflicted by her former boyfriend the day before.
Her ex, who had served time in prison for assaulting her, was questioned by police but released without charge.
Her aunt, Deborah Pearson, accused police of failing her and called for her death to be properly investigated. She said: “Instead of helping her, Israel turned its back.”
The extent of the injuries suffered by a Scots hotel worker before her death in Israel can be revealed today.
Autopsy reports show Julie Pearson had scores of bruises all over her body and serious internal bleeding before she died in 2015.
Police insist she died of natural causes but her family believe her death may be linked to a beating inflicted by her boyfriend the day before.
Her ex-partner, Amjad Khatib, who had served time in prison for assaulting her, was questioned about Julie’s death, before being released without charge.
Now, after four years of requests to the Israeli authorities, her family has obtained the full police and post mortem reports.
Julie’s aunt, Deborah Pearson, of Blackburn, West Lothian, believes the police could – and should – have done more to investigate her niece’s death.
She said: “Julie had been repeatedly abused by Khatib, but instead of helping her, Israel turned its back.”
Julie’s father, John, was born in Israel and served in the Israeli army, and Julie had been living in Eilat for a couple of years, working as a waitress and in tourism jobs.
Despite bruises across Julie’s face, arms and abdomen, some almost seven inches across, Israeli authorities insist her death was not suspicious.
Her family fear failures by Israeli police mean they will never know if she had also been sexually assaulted before she diedataB&Binthetouristtown of Eilat in November, 2015.
Police had been called to help Julie, 38, from Kinross, the night before she died, when they believe she had been attacked by Khatib.
The police reports reveal that when officers arrived, they saw Julie’s extensive facial bruising and noted she was incoherent and “falling asleep after each sentence even though she did not smell of alcohol”.
Despite the warning signs, they did not take her to a hospital. Instead, the officer filing the report blamed Julie adding: “There is no criminal offence”.
Police did not arrest Khatib, and Julie was dead within a few hours. Two weeks later Khatib, who had served a month in jail for beating Julie and a previous girlfriend, was arrested, but denied having anything to do with her Julie’s death. He was later released.
He told police: “After I went to prison, I did not raise my hand on any girl.”
Khatib told officers Julie had been at his house on the day before her death, but said he had told her to leave.
He was asked how he got her out of the house and told there were “many signs of fresh violence” on Julie, but replied: “I did not hit her. I do not lie.”
Julie’s family weren’t informed of her death for three days, despite protocol that means they should have been.
Julie’s aunt Deborah, 58, said: “We will never forgive the Israeli police and authorities for failing to protect Julie and not properly investigating what happened.
“For three days we carried on with our lives while she lay dead because they couldn’t be bothered telling us.”
Dr Ricardo Nachman carried out the post mortem which concluded that, although he could not “rule out the deceased being hit by someone” the cause of death was a spontaneous haemorrhage, causing internal bleeding, due to high levels of alcohol. Tests revealed Julie was just over the UK drink drive limit.
MP Hannah Bardell has supported Julie’s family fight for justice and said: “This new information will be deeply distressing for Julie’s family and I am appalled that this is only coming to light now. What will it take to make someone examine this case in detail, applying compassion and common sense to the investigation?
“In light of these findings, I am seeking another meeting with the Israeli ambassador Mark Regev as a matter of urgency.”
The MP, who has launched the Deaths Abroad, Consular Services and Assistance AllParty Parliamentary Group at Westminster, said: “We have taken evidence from over 60 families across the UK and will report shortly. I hope then we can really have a conversation about how to make things better for families.”
We can never forgive Israeli police for not doing more to help Julie