The police have arrested suspects in the murder of a European woman in Doha, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) announced on its website yesterday, after a 24-year-old British teacher was found dead in Qatar.
“The case has been referred to the Public Prosecution to complete further judicial procedures applicable in this regard,” the MoI explained.
It did not say how many suspects were arrested or name the victim.
Teacher Lauren Patterson went missing on Saturday after a night out, according to British press reports.
The press reports said Lauren’s body was later found in the desert.
Patterson was reportedly last seen with two men at a nightclub in Doha on Saturday night.
The Daily Mail newspaper said that amid confusing reports there were suggestions from friends that Patterson had left the nightclub, which was at a five-star hotel, with a group of men and had texted friends to say she was being taken to the wrong house.
Patterson is believed to have been killed hours after flying back to the Middle East from her grandmother’s funeral, the newspaper said.
News of her disappearance had prompted her family and friends to launch a frantic campaign on Facebook and other social media to find her.
But 40 hours later her boyfriend, James Grima, posted a message saying she was dead.
It was followed by dozens of tributes praising a “truly amazing” young woman.
Patterson’s Kent-based mother, Alison, has reportedly flown to Qatar to formally identify her body.
In an online tribute, Alison wrote: “She was truly a remarkable girl, my rock, always there for everyone. I know she’s in heaven now in her Daddy’s arms.”
Paterson had flown back to the Middle East on Friday and was a primary teacher at a British school in Doha, The Daily Mail said.
Alison, a widow, lives with Patterson’s younger brother and sister in Kent. Her sister uploaded a picture of her with Patterson on Facebook and said “thank you” to
those sending messages of sympathy.
They had moved back to Britain only recently after living in Luxembourg for seven years.
On Sunday, Patterson’s boyfriend Grima, an IT technician and DJ based in Malta, had posted an appeal to track her down after becoming concerned about her whereabouts. Later he announced her death.
Grima wrote: “I love you so much babe, I really do and I can’t get over the fact that you were taken away so cruelly, it really breaks my heart to think about it.”
