14 DAY TRIAL // A 24-year-old British woman has been raped and killed on a trip to the Arabian Emirate of Qatar. Two men have been arrested in her death, reports say.
Lauren Patterson went missing on Saturday, October 12, after going to a nightclub in the capital city of Doha. She has flown to Qatar for her grandmother's funeral.
She also worked as a primary school teacher in Doha, but she was on holiday before traveling back for the service.
Daily Mail writes that her body has been found in the desert, and police have used a distinctive tattoo to identify it.
She was last seen in the company of two men, one of whom has been described as her ex-boyfriend.
James Grima first posted on Facebook about her disappearance on Saturday. On Sunday, he suggested that she had died, even though authorities had not made the announcement.
"I can't believe that it had to end this way Lauren, I really don't. I was so happy that I had finally found someone that could change my life so much, and in such a positive way too … Rest In Peace, babe … I will always look up at the sky cause you always were the brightest star and always will be," he wrote.
"Lauren was raped and brutally murdered," another friend tweeted.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is yet to confirm the teacher's death and they still list her as a missing person. However, her mother, Alison, flew to Qatar and identified the body.
"The police has arrested the suspects of an European woman's murder. The case has been referred to Public Prosecution to complete further judicial procedures applicable in this regard," a statement by the Qatari Ministry of Interior reads, as relayed by the Guardian.
The nightclub where Patterson has last been spotted is located in the five-star La Cigale hotel. Manager George Forzi describes that the police have not asked for any evidence.
"I have not seen police at all, at any time. They have not asked me to see the CCTV," he says.