Bride killed, husband wounded while honeymooning in Antigua

leta lynn is still missing too!

Woman heard honeymoon couple shot in Antigua

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Bride's parents had 2-hour wait to be told of death

Police quiz drifter

'Brain-dead' groom to be flown to UK within hours

Catherine Mullany and her husband Benjamin on their wedding day. Catherine has been shot dead and Benjamin is fighting for his life in hospital


Police on the Caribbean island today said shooting victim Ben Mullany, 31, would be transferred from the intensive care unit where he is being treated as soon as an air ambulance is available.

A local drifter who had befriended the British couple and drove them around the island has been re-arrested, a source said.

They had met him on a beach the week before the murder and arranged for him to give them a tour and paid him $150 (£75).

He has already been arrested and questioned by police once before and was on bail for another offence at the time of the shooting.

Ben Mullany is being returned to the UK at the request of his parents, Cynlais and Marilyn Mullany.

The couple today visited his intensive care unit accompanied by a critical care team from the Montreal-based Skyservice Air Ambulance.

The medical team left after spending 15 minutes assessing Mr Mullany and a senior doctor said the plan was to fly Mr Mullany direct to Britain within hours.

He said: “We have begun the process of mobilising him back to the UK where they have a team of neuro-surgeons. We don’t have such specialists here.

“We have been happy to treat him but this is a small island and we only really deal with trauma here.”

He said he “had no idea” whether taking him to a hospital in Britain will make a difference to his condition.

The doctor said: “He is not deteriorating or progressing, he is still the same. We have done the best we can and now hope for a medical miracle - we never know, it could happen.”

The Antiguan authorities want to call in Scotland Yard to investigate the brutal shooting.

Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer said he had made a formal request for help and it is hoped a team of murder squad detectives will fly in to assist the inquiry.

Mrs Mullany, 31, a doctor, was shot dead on Sunday while her new husband Ben, also 31, was left in a coma with bullet wounds to the head and neck.

The couple, from South Wales, were nearing the end of a two-week honeymoon when they were shot at their cottage in what police are treating as a "robbery gone bad."

There are no official suspects, no clear leads and local police are understood to be no closer to finding the killer, which prompted the plea for help from the UK.

A police source said: "There have been some arrests but that was really a fishing exercise and there has been no real concrete advance towards finding out who did it. The inquiry needs as much experience and expertise as it can get."

In an address to the nation Mr Baldwin said the shootings were a "threat to our very survival" on an island reliant on the tourism industry.

At least one airline, Virgin Atlantic, and its subsidiary Virgin Holidays, have reported cancellations of bookings and tour packages.

Mr Baldwin also wants British detectives to look into a series of other unsolved murders in Antigua where Mrs Mullany was the 10th person to be killed this year.

He said the previously tranquil island had been "overwhelmed" by violence in the last decade.

But he blamed the problem on the UK and the US for deporting more than 280 criminals back to Antigua over a 10 year period, many of whom had little connection with the island apart from being born there.

Mr Baldwin said: "Criminal deportees, with skills developed and nurtured in the US and UK, are impacting tremendously on our society."

A large reward has been offered for information leading to convictions in the Mullany case.

A British tourist staying at the same Cocos resort reported hearing screams 20 minutes apart and gunshots, followed by a female voice shouting "Help me, please".

Ben Mullany is being retruned to the UK at the request of his parents, Cynlais and Marilyn Mullany.

They are believed to have been shocked by the basic state of the intensive care unit where he is being treated.

However, surgeons at Antigua's Holberton Hospital have said that his lack of brain activity is irreversible and he will die if removed from his ventilator.

Ben Mullany's former fiancee said it was no surprise he was willing to lay down his life to try to save Catherine and he would have fought to save her.

Becky Gosling, 29, said the ex-soldier was awarded a medal for his service with Nato peace-keeping troops in Bosnia and had also served in the police.

She said: "He would have put up a real fight. He would do anything to protect the people he loved. He is such a caring person."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said a request had been made by Antigua for help from British police.

She said: "We have received a request for assistance and we are considering it."

Antigua asks help from Scotland Yard

The shootings of two British newlyweds in Antigua may be lin

Honeymoon horror: Catherine and Benjamin Mullany

The shootings of two British newlyweds in Antigua may be linked to another murder less than two months ago, the Caribbean island's police chief has said.


Gary Nelson, who was brought in from Canada to transform the island's force earlier this year, spoke as Benjamin Mullany was being flown back to the UK on board an air ambulance.

It is expected to land at Cardiff International Airport in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The body of his new wife Catherine - who died instantly in the attack at the Cocos Hotel on Sunday morning - and the couple's parents are understood to be flying home on a different flight.

Mr Nelson said he believed the murder of Mrs Mullany and shooting of her husband may be linked to another murder which happened around two months ago in a house in the Antiguan capital of St John's.

It also appeared to be a robbery and the young male victim was shot in the back of his head, he said.

Mr Nelson confirmed that Mr Mullany was shot with a handgun in the back of his head, and the bullet lodged in his head, where it remains.

His new wife was shot once in her temple, and died instantly. She had no other injuries.

He agreed that it was "probably not the first time" the killer or killers had struck and said he believed it was "linked to previous homicides".

"There's something wrong with this person," he said.

Asked if he was confident about catching the killer, he said: "As long as I'm here on this island, we'll be investigating."

There was a shot, then a scream, then a shot... then quiet.
Cocos Hotel guest Beverley Stairs

Talking about Mr Mullany's parents' decision to transfer their son back to the UK, Mr Nelson said: "If that was my child, I'd do exactly what the parents are doing.

"Have you been to the hospital here?"

He agreed the murder had exposed the force's weaknesses and, asked whether it would be a catalyst for change on the island, he said: "It could be. It will be, it will be."

Four people remain in custody in connection with the incident and around a dozen officers were working on the case.

Newlyweds Mrs Mullany, a doctor from Pontardawe, South Wales, and Mr Mullany, from the village of Ystalyfera in the Swansea valley in South Wales, were on the last day of their two-week honeymoon when they were shot.

Briton shot on honeymoon heading home from Antigua