Knifed to death, the widow who left for a new start abroad

13 April 2012

Victim: Denise Higgins

Retired civil servant Denise Higgins, 52, was stabbed repeatedly and had her throat slit with one of her own kitchen knives.

Hours later, Indian police arrested waiter Anand Kambli, 27, as he tried to leave Goa by train.

They said Kambli, his wife and young daughter had been invited to dinner by Mrs Higgins on the evening she was killed.

But police admit they do not know why he attacked her.

They dismissed reports that Kambli and Mrs Higgins, who has a grown-up son and daughter in the UK, had been having an affair.

Police also ruled out suggestions that Mrs Higgins may have been killed over a property deal.

Mrs Higgins, a widow from Oxfordshire, had been living alone in the upmarket tourist town of Margao for six months.

She was supervising the building of a house and had made inquiries about opening a restaurant in Goa, which attracts thousands of Britons each year with its idyllic beaches and laidback atmosphere.

Kambli had been a regular visitor to Mrs Higgins's bungalow. He went there again for dinner on Thursday night with his wife Philomena and their three-year-old daughter.

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Suspect: Handcuffed Anand Kambil after his arrest as he tried to escape by train

It is thought that after his family went to bed in another room, Kambli and Mrs Higgins had a row which ended in him attacking her.

He is said to have called a taxi to send his family to their home in Mangalore, 250 miles away, before fleeing himself, Mrs Higgins's body was found by her regular rickshaw driver when he arrived to take her to the local market the following morning.

Nearby were beer bottles, cigarette packets and the remains of a chicken biryani meal.

The rickshaw driver told police he had taken Kambli and his family to the bungalow the previous night and a major manhunt was launched.

Police superintendent Shekhar Prabhudessai said his officers had found no sign of sexual assault or robbery.

They have been searching the bungalow for documents that might provide a motive for murder.

Detectives were said to have interviewed Kambli's wife and were convinced the couple were happily married.

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Mrs Higgins, a widow from Oxfordshire, had been living alone in the upmarket tourist town of Margao for six months

Ujjwal Misra, Goa's deputy inspector-general of police, said: "This is a very odd murder. It was definitely not premeditated, there was no robbery and no evidence of a property deal."

Goa is famous for its trance parties, popular with British backpackers.

Its magnificent beaches and peaceful atmosphere have led scores of Westerners to emigrate there.

Margao is in south Goa, 30 miles from the capital, Panaji. It is Goa's second largest city and the most Westernised.

Local media said Mrs Higgins was a UK national of Indian origin, whose family came from West Bengal.

A spokesman for the British High Commission in Mumbai said it was liaising with police.

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