The family of Nora Quoirin, the British teenager found dead in the Malaysian jungle after a 10-day search, have dismissed “unhelpful” speculation about her disappearance.
The body of the 15-year-old, who had severe learning difficulties, was discovered less than two miles from an eco-holiday resort where her family had been staying.
Nora’s family have said they are hoping for “more answers to our many questions” after an autopsy revealed the London schoolgirl probably died due to starvation and stress after surviving a week in the jungle.
But reports attributed to an unnamed source have since suggested that her parents are considering asking for a second postmortem to ensure no evidence was missed.
Yesterday the family issued a statement via the Lucie Blackman Trust – a charity that supports British nationals in crisis overseas – saying: “The family of Nora Quoirin would like to clarify several comments that have been attributed to the family or to people claiming to act on behalf of the family.
“They wish it to be made absolutely clear that the only comments and statements relating to the disappearance, death, investigation and any other matters that are actually from the family are those released via Matthew Searle of the Lucie Blackman Trust.”
It added: “Any other comments and views are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views of the immediate family or an accurate portrayal of the facts.”
It continued: “Nora’s family are concerned that continued reporting of comments such as those recently reported are unhelpful and may hinder any investigations, as well as causing confusion and distress for them.”
The Lucie Blackman Trust was arranging repatriation of Nora’s body, the statement added.
The new statement follows Nora’s Irish mother and French father, Meabh and Sebastien – who live in London – meeting the Malaysian deputy prime minister, Wan Azizah, on Friday during which she paid her respects to the family.
After the post-mortem, Malaysian police said that Nora starved to death after her disappearance and “for the time being” there was no evidence of abduction or kidnapping.
The teenager is likely to have spent a week in the jungle, dying between two and four days before her body was discovered, the post-mortem examination revealed.
Further analysis is also due on samples taken from her body.
Nora’s grandfather, Sylvain Quoirin, who is a mayor in France, reportedly said before her body was discovered that it was “unthinkable” that she would have wandered off alone given the extent of her learning difficulties.
Nora, who had a neurological disorder that limited her speech and co-ordination, was barefoot and in underwear when she went missing.
She was staying at the Dunson resort in a nature reserve 40 miles south of Kuala Lumpur where the family, including her brother and sister, were staying earlier this month.
The teenager was discovered missing from the holiday cottage after the family went to sleep for the night, with a large window found open.
Her body was eventually discovered on Tuesday unclothed down a deep ravine, 1.6 miles from the resort where she was staying.
It followed a large-scale search involving 350 volunteers.
In an earlier statement released on Friday, Nora’s family said the “initial post-mortem results have given some information that helps us to understand Nora’s cause of death”.
They added: “Our beautiful innocent girl died in extremely complex circumstances and we are hoping that soon we will have more answers to our many questions.”