British grandmother battered to death in Jamaica had just split up with toyboy lover wanted for her murder

12 April 2012

A retired British nurse found battered to death in Jamaica had recently tried to end an affair with a younger lover, police have said.

Barbara Scott-Jones was found on Friday, hidden in a concrete-sealed sewage pit behind her holiday home on the Caribbean island.

The 61-year-old grandmother is said to have been in a relationship with labourer Omar Reid but had either just ended or tried to end the affair.

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Barbara Scott-Jones: Battered to death

Now 30-year-old Reid, who is 6ft 4in and has several front teeth missing, is the prime suspect in a murder hunt.

He had been renovating Mrs Scott-Jones's home in Somerton in the northwest of the island. He is thought to have fled Jamaica before the discovery was made. Mrs Scott-Jones, a divorced mother of three, had been stripped to her underwear and had suffered injuries including a fractured skull.

Omar Reid: Fled Jamaica

Her family flew to Jamaica after becoming concerned at not hearing from her for more than ten days.

They insist Reid was not her lover and was simply helping with building work at the home she had owned for 15 years. They said there was "no evidence" they were "intimately linked".

But District Constable Rosemary Armstrong said: "They were often seen out together and it was known they were involved. Our information is that Mrs Scott-Jones had ended or was trying to end the relationship."

Superintendent Steve McGregor, who is leading the inquiry, has said there was an "established relationship" between Reid and Mrs Scott-Jones. Police said Reid disappeared soon after Mrs Scott-Jones failed to make contact with her family in Britain.

She had been due to return home to Leeds in May. Her sister had been killed in a car crash last year and Mrs Scott-Jones had decided to sell the Jamaican house they co- owned because it was full of memories.

Her daughter Salina Yildiz-Jones said: "She told me she was going to try to get an earlier flight back because she was feeling there was some hostility towards her. She had a nice car and she said a lot of people asked her for money - which she wouldn't give."

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Victim: Barbara Jones-Scott, seen with her grandson Joseph, suffered a fractured skull

They spoke on March 11, when Mrs Scott- Jones "sounded a bit poorly". Mrs Yildiz-Jones became concerned when she heard no more and called with no response. Then, when she rang the house phone, a man answered and told her that her mother had gone away. "She would never go away without telling me," she said.

"The man who answered was Omar Reid. Mum used to give him money on a regular basis. She said she was going to stop doing this and did so about two weeks before her death."

After continued unanswered calls, Mrs Yildiz-Jones received a text message last Saturday saying: "Ring you when get home. B Scott."

"I was very suspicious by this point as she always signed her texts with 'Mum'," said Mrs Yildiz-Jones.

She flew to Jamaica a week ago and, with her father Charlie Jones, Mrs Scott-Jones's ex-husband, was present when her mother's body was found after a tip-off to police.

Heartache: Daughter Salina and father Charlie at the scene

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