Jamaica murders: what happened to Charlie and Gayle Anderson?

A couple from Manchester have been found dead in Jamaica after retiring to the Caribbean island.

Charlie and Gayle Anderson, aged 74 and 71, are believed to have been murdered.

So what do we know?

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Who were Charlie and Gayle Anderson?

The British couple had four grandchildren and one great-grandchild and had been married for 55 years.

Their family says they were “beginning the next chapter of their lives” in Jamaica. “Charlie and Gayle were pillars of the community in Manchester and Jamaica, and were hugely popular and loved by many,” their sons said in a statement issued by the Home Office.

A former neighbour told the Manchester Evening News that the couple had spent several years going back and forth to the island while they built a house there before moving over permanently about a year ago.

What happened to them?

The couple were found dead on Friday in Mount Pleasant, a farming community in the island’s northeast Portland Parish.

According to local media, their bodies were burned and both had wounds to the face and neck. Charlie’s corpse was reportedly discovered close to a primary school near their home, while his wife was found at a different location.

The couple had been the victims of fraud and had reported the matter to police. Around 45 credit card transactions worth equivalent to around £45,000 had been made in Portland without their knowledge between August 2017 and May 2018, reports The Jamaica Gleaner.

“Police have not ruled out the possibility that the persons who carried out the scam were also behind the killings,” says the newspaper.

Mount Pleasant resident Jerome Heslop, a farmer, said he was “baffled” by the murders. “They have given so much to this community, and they have never said no to anyone,” he told the Gleaner. “Each time they are in Jamaica, they bring back shoes, clothes, tablets, food stuff, school items and other stuff for residents. It is a wicked and sinful act, and the community has lost two great people.”