28 Mar 2014

British man found dead on burnt-out yacht

A murder investigation is launched after a British sailor is found dead on a burned-out life raft. His yacht was destroyed by fire off the coast of the Caribbean island, St Vincent.

British man found dead on burnt-out yacht (G)

The body of the man, thought to be John Garner, 53, was discovered on the raft by the coastguard off St Vincent. He is believed to have suffered injuries to his head and both legs and was taken to the island’s Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police have now launched a murder investigation and are understood to be searching for Heidi Hukkelaas, a Norweigan woman he was travelling with, reportedly his wife, with whom he flew to St Vincent on 19 January.

Newspapers quote the island’s police commissioner Michael Charles as saying that Mr Garner’s death was being treated as suspicious and that investigators were looking at “all lines of inquiry”.

“We suspect foul play and will investigate the matter fully,” Mr Charlies said. “Miss Hukkelaas is a person of interest and as with every murder investigation we have to look at everyone and everything and will leave no stones unturned.”

However family members said they believed the death to be a “tragic accident”.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: “We are aware of the death of a British national in St Vincent and The Grenadines. We are providing consular assistance to the family at this difficult time.”

‘We saw a flashing light’

The Jamaica Observer said a preliminary police investigation found the couple arrived in St Vincent and the Grenadines by air on 19 January, and that they had been granted an extension to remain until 19 April.

The newspaper said checks had revealed Ms Hukkelaas had not left the state by any of its air or sea ports.

Diver Kay Wilson, who has lived in St Vincent and the Grenadines for 12 years, was out on a dive trip when one of her crew members spotted smoke on the horizon at around 11.45am local time on Wednesday.

“When we reached about a quarter of a mile off we saw a flashing light, which you would normally associate with a life jacket.” she said. “So we approached cautiously and we found somebody in the water with the life jacket around their neck approximately 150, 200ft away from the yacht at the time. It was a male.”

Ms Wilson said by then the flames had completely engulfed the vessel. “It was almost raised to the water line, and the heat and the smoke which were coming were just incredible,” she told Sky News. “Had anybody else been on the yacht at the time, there was no way to know at all.”