Police arrest man over Goa 'rape'

Scarlett was last seen alive leaving a beach bar

Police in Goa investigating the death of a British teenager have arrested a man on suspicion of rape.

Kishan Kumar, the Inspector General of Police in Goa, said local man Samson D'Souza, 28, was due to appear in court in Mapusa on Monday.

Scarlett Keeling, 15 and from Devon, was found dead on 18 February.

A second post-mortem examination has suggested she was murdered and did not drown accidentally after drinking, as police first indicated.

Police said that they want Mr D'Souza to be remanded by the court into police custody so they can question him further in connection "with the entire episode".

Under the Indian legal system Mr D'Souza has to appear in court in connection with the case within 24 hours.

Bruises and abrasions

Scarlett's mother Fiona MacKeown pressed for the second post-mortem.

The doctors who carried out the latest examination discovered some 50 bruises and abrasions on Scarlett's body and unanimously recommended police open a murder inquiry into the death.

She told BBC News: "It was our main objective to get the police or somebody to admit that she'd been murdered as I knew in my heart that she had been."

Mr Kumar said the probe into her death was being treated as a murder investigation and told the BBC the second post-mortem had not ruled out that Scarlett died from drowning.

Scarlett's body was found on the beach on 18 February, while the rest of her family was travelling in the neighbouring state of Karnataka.

She is last reported to have been seen alive leaving a beach bar a couple of hours before her body was found nearby.

Ms MacKeown, who took Scarlett and five of her eight siblings to Goa for a six-month holiday in November, has accused the Indian police of trying to cover up the facts about how her daughter died.

The family's lawyer Vikram Verma said he was "appalled" at the actions of the police handling the investigation into Scarlett's death.

"We want the case to be investigated as a crime and look into the conduct of the police officers who have tried to cover it up," he said.

"But unfortunately, it's going to be the very police who will look into the police officers who have tried to cover up this death."

Ms MacKeown is now making preparations to come back to the UK with her daughter's body before returning to India.

"I'll get back out here and keep it alive as much as I can and keep the pressure on the police really," she said.

'Really affectionate'

Paying tribute to Scarlett, Ms MacKeown said she was a "lovely girl" who was happy all the time.

"She was very bouncy and used to sing at the top of her voice all the time," she said.

"She was a really affectionate, loving girl and a brilliant big sister."

She added that Scarlett's siblings "missed her terribly" and have been writing letters they want to put in her coffin with her.

The British High Commission has confirmed four of 10 British deaths in Goa this year were from unnatural causes.