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Lebanon detains suspect in murder of British embassy worker - source

 

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese security forces have arrested a Lebanese taxi driver suspected of killing Rebecca Dykes, a British woman who worked at the British embassy in Beirut and was found dead on Saturday, a security source said.

 

The security source said preliminary investigations showed the motive was purely criminal, not political.

 

Lebanon's NNA news agency reported that the suspect had admitted to the crime and had picked Dykes up in his taxi in Beirut's Gemmayzeh district on Friday evening before assaulting and killing her.

 

Police traced his car through surveillance cameras on the highway, NNA reported.

 

Dykes' body was found strangled by a main road outside Beirut, a security source said on Sunday. She had worked at the British embassy for the Department for International Development, her LinkedIn page said.

 

British ambassador to Lebanon Hugo Shorter said on Sunday: "The whole embassy is deeply shocked, saddened by this news".

 

Dykes' family said in a statement issued by Britain's foreign ministry: "We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Rebecca. We are doing all we can to understand what happened."

 

(Reporting By Laila Bassam and Angus McDowall; Editing by Toby Chopra)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-12-18