France: Briton Charged Over Jogger's Murder

A British man has been charged with the murder of a young woman who was killed while out jogging in France.

Robert Plant, 32, is being held in Montpellier after the badly-beaten body of Jouda Zammit was found in brambles last Thursday afternoon, police said.

A search was launched after Ms Zammit failed to collect her daughter from school in Nimes in southwest France.

Gilles Soulie, head of Montpellier's judicial police service, said Plant has been questioned by police over the murder.

Mr Soulie said a trial would be some months away.

Plant is understood to come from Chatham in Kent and is believed to have been staying in Nimes with his mother, who lives in the region.

Ms Zammit was found near a cemetery only a few hundred metres from the local police academy and detention centre in Nimes.

The 33-year-old appeared to have suffered blows to her face and neck.

Traces of blood were found on two stones and a blade close to her body, according to regional newspaper La Depeche.

Ms Zammit, a mother of three, was said to jog regularly in the quiet Courbessac area where she lived, often going out for around 20 minutes before collecting her children from school.

She was reported missing by her partner after he was contacted by the children's school when she failed to pick them up last Thursday.

Police mounted a search and her body was discovered shortly after 10pm.

A post-mortem examination revealed that she had suffered knife wounds in the attack.