Uber driver arrested over murder of UK diplomat in Beirut

Lebanese security services have arrested an Uber driver over the killing of British embassy worker Rebecca Dykes, found dead on the side of a motorway near capital city Beirut on Saturday.

“The Lebanese man detained on suspicion of murdering a British embassy worker in Lebanon is a driver for Uber and has previous criminal violations,” reports Reuters, citing a senior Lebanese security source.

An Uber spokesperson said the ride-hailing app company was “horrified by this senseless act of violence” and was assisting authorities.

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A Beirut official said that the suspect has confessed, and that the murder was a “criminal act” and not politically motivated, according to The Times of Israel.

“The circumstances surrounding her death were unclear, but local police officials suggested she had been strangled,” The Guardian reports. There were also reports that a rope was used and that she had been raped.

Dykes, 30, had been seconded to Beirut’s British embassy from the Department for International Development.

Her body was found in the early hours of Saturday morning by a road east of the city. She had been due to fly home for Christmas later that day.

“The whole embassy is deeply shocked and saddened by this news,” said the British Ambassador to Lebanon, Hugo Shorter. “Our thoughts are with Becky's family, friends and colleagues for their tragic loss.”

Dykes, who reportedly spoke Mandarin, had spent Friday evening at a leaving party for a colleague in Beirut’s popular Gemmayzeh district, the BBC says.

Local authorities believe she may have been abducted shortly after leaving the party on her own at around midnight.

Her death has “shocked expatriates, diplomats and aid workers, who meet in Gemmayzeh and regarded the area as safe”, says The Times.

"We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Rebecca,” Dykes’ family said in a statement. “We are doing all we can to understand what happened.”

Dykes grew up in Hong Kong and was educated at boarding school in Worcestershire, at a Chinese international school and at the universities of Manchester and London, reports The Daily Telegraph.