Teacher found strangled in Moscow

Mr Hughes was found dead in Moscow

An Australian teacher who had been due to start work at a Northamptonshire secondary school has been found strangled in a Moscow hotel room.

Peter Hughes, 55, was reported missing by staff at Montagu School in Kettering when he failed to turn up at the start of the autumn term in September to teach religious education.

His bound and gagged body was found at a hotel near Moscow airport.

Staff and pupils at Montagu School were said to be saddened by the news.

Robbery motive

Russian police are treating the death as murder.

An Australian Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said police had inspected CCTV footage at the hotel and questioned four suspects.

"Russian police inform us that the motive for the murder appears to be robbery.

"It is understood that Mr Hughes was seen in the hotel bar having a drink with two women only hours before his body was found bound and gagged in his room by a hotel maid on October 7."

Mr Hughes, from New South Wales, worked as an English teacher in Saratov, Russia, between 2000 and 2001.

He was in Kettering at the end of August to arrange his job, and is thought then to have flown back briefly to Australia before heading for Moscow.