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Double murder baffles Portland farming community

Published:Friday | June 22, 2018 | 12:00 AMGareth Davis Sr/Gleaner Writer

The farming community of Mount Pleasant in west Portland has been rocked by a double murder after the nude body of a Caucasian female, along with that of her husband, was discovered on Friday afternoon.

The names of the murdered victims have been withheld by the police. However, the woman, who only recently returned to Jamaica from the United Kingdom (UK), was reportedly found with her hands and feet bound.

The body of the husband was found two hours later, shortly after 1 pm. The man's body appeared to have been partially burned and also had what investigators believed to be gunshot wounds.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that the British national was defrauded of $8 million from her credit card account, which was reported to the Portland police as well as the Major Organised Crime and Anti-corruption taskforce.

 

Returned to the UK

 

A source who spoke to The Gleaner on condition of anonymity, said that the woman was forced to return to the UK in order to secure copies of commercial transactions made by the fraudster (s).

"She returned about two or so weeks ago with the printout [record] from her bank in England," commented the source.

"To the best of my knowledge, those documents were handed over to the police, who started their investigation. I also learned that between August last year and May of this year, a total of 45 credit card transactions were made at prominent hardware stores and supermarkets in Portland," the source further disclosed.

According to investigators, they are looking for a man from the Mount Pleasant community who reportedly fled the area a little over a month ago. The police said that they believe that the man could assist with their investigation.

"I am baffled by these murders. They (the deceased couple) have given so much to this community, and they have never said no to anyone. Each time they are in Jamaica, they bring back shoes, clothes, tablets, food stuff, school items, and other stuff for residents," said Jerome Heslop, a farmer from the community. "It is a wicked and sinful act, and the community has lost two great people."

AAAIt is the seventh murder committed in the Portland Police Division since the start of 2018.