St Lucia murder inquiry launched after British man found dead

Police on the Caribbean island of St Lucia are investigating the murder of a British man who ran a marina and was a prominent figure in the island’s tourist industry.

Robert Hathaway, 66, was found dead by a neighbour at his home on Sunday.

A police spokesman in Gros Islet said investigators were awaiting the outcome of a postmortem examination but confirmed officers believed he was murdered.

Speaking to the Press Association he said: “The body of a British national was found where he lived in Grand Riviere, Gros Islet. We are treating his death as a homicide.”

The spokesman added: “We will be getting in touch with his family in the UK. We don’t yet know if he has any next of kin on St Lucia,” he said.

Keats Compton, president of the Marine Industries Association of St Lucia, said he was horrified by the incident.

He said: “Apart from anything else, Bob was a pal of mine. He was on the executive committee of the (Marine Industries) Association and he was an integral part of it.

“I’m also concerned because the yachting fraternity is very close-knit, and the fact that this kind of thing can happen – if it’s not reported properly it can do the industry quite a lot of damage.”

Compton said he had known the victim for more than 10 years and he would be following the police investigation closely.

Asked about a possible motive for the murder, he said: “It was a big shock to me but it’s a bit early to make any speculation.”

Foreign Office travel advice about St Lucia warns tourists that while most visits to the island are “trouble-free … there have been incidents of crime including murder, armed robbery and sexual assault”.

In 2014 Hathaway was quoted in press reports about the murder of Roger Pratt on his yacht in St Lucia. He said of him: “He was on the trip of a lifetime and I knew exactly how he felt because I had done the same thing.”

Hathaway was a former chairman of the St Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association and founder of the Marigot marina. Before moving to the Caribbean in 2001 he spent more than 10 years designing yachts after a career in local government at London’s Haringey council.

According to his CV he was privately educated in Surrey and studied engineering at the University of Cambridge. The CV gave his marital status as divorced.

His Facebook page says he was originally from the village of Codford St Peter in Wiltshire.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “Our staff are supporting the family of a British man following his death in St Lucia, and are in contact with the St Lucian police.”