A British man who was shot dead in Jamaica this week was the victim of a contract killing ordered in Britain, according to local police.
Sean Patterson, 33, a personal trainer from west London, was found with gunshot wounds to his upper body and head at about midday on Monday in Bogue Hill, St James, police said.
“The investigation so far theorised that the murder was a contract killing that emanated from Britain,” said the Jamaica constabulary force’s deputy commissioner of police, Fitz Bailey, in a video statement on Wednesday.
The force said a man had been arrested for the “contract killing” of a UK national. Local media previously reported a 34-year-old man was taken into custody.
Patterson arrived in Jamaica on 29 December on a Virgin Atlantic flight with another man from London, according to police, and spent three days at an apartment before booking a five-night stay at a villa in Bogue Hill, St James.
The two attended a concert and subsequently met up with a third man in Kingston, said police.
All three stayed at the villa and “retired to bed in separate rooms”. According to reports, at about noon the next day, 2 January, Patterson was shot and killed. He was taken to the hospital but could not be revived.
The deputy commissioner of police said there was no evidence that Patterson was robbed or had “any connection in Jamaica”.
Speaking to MailOnline, Patterson’s mother, Lesley Wright, said her son had “been having the time of his life” in Jamaica, where he has family through his father. Wright said her son, who was engaged and planned to marry his fiancee this year, had hoped to meet them but never had the chance.
“I’ve lost my baby. No mother should have to bury her child,” she said.
Bailey said: “The investigation is making significant progress and we are working with our international partners.”
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who died in Jamaica and are in contact with the local authorities.”
