Brit Killed In South Africa Farm Robbery

A British man who went to South Africa to run a nature reserve has been killed in a robbery at his farm, police say.

Christopher Preece had gone outside to check why the power was cut at the property when three men attacked him with machetes, according to officers.

The 54-year-old victim bled to death after the attack near Ficksburg, a town near the border with Lesotho, on Saturday night.

His wife, 56, was seriously wounded in the assault and is now being treated in hospital.

Captain Phumelelo Dhlamini of the South African Police Service said the robbers stole about \$350 (£220) and a mobile phone from their farm near Lesotho's Maluti Mountains.

In a statement, police said: "They assaulted him with a panga and he sustained bodily injuries.

"He ran back into the house and fell on the floor and died."

British High Commission spokeswoman Isabel Potgieter said: "We have been in touch with the authorities but I cannot give more information."

South Africa has one of the world's highest violent crime rates, with an average of 42 people killed every day.

Agricultural unions and opposition parties have raised the alarm over attacks on rural farms that often stretch over vast areas.

According to the Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa, there were 634 farm attacks and 306 farm murders between 2008 and September this year.