Goa mother faces 'neglect' probe

Scarlett was last seen alive at a beach bar

The mother of a British girl found dead on a beach in Goa has said police may question her.

Fiona MacKeown, 43, left her daughter Scarlett Keeling, 15, in Goa while she travelled to another part of India.

Mrs MacKeown, who lives near Bideford, Devon, said: "I don't think I was negligent. I just think I was naive."

Indian police originally insisted that Miss Keeling, whose body was found on 19 February, had drowned, but a man has now been charged with her rape.

Police criticised

The superintendent of police, Bosco George, in Goa, told the BBC "we will have to question the mother" but would not say in connection with what.

He also said the police had made no formal or informal request to ask her to come for questioning.

JP Singh, chief secretary to the government of Goa, told the BBC the case had been blown out of proportion.

He said the coverage of the case had overlooked basic facts including that the 15-year-old had been left alone and had a history of drug abuse.

Mrs McKeown said she had left her daughter in the care of a 25-year-old tour guide that Miss Keeling had befriended in the resort of Anjuna.

She and her six other children then went to the neighbouring state of Karnataka.

I think I was probably naive and too trusting of the people around her Fiona MacKeown

She told the BBC: "I think I was probably naive and too trusting of the people around her.

"That's probably the worst thing I've done. I don't think I was negligent in any other way.

"As far as I was concerned she was in very good hands and these people cared for her."

She added: "She wasn't left here, at the end of the day. She was in contact, in constant contact with us."

Indian police have faced severe criticism over their handling of the case.

Goa's Tourism Minister Francisco X Pacheco accused officers of deliberately trying to cover up Miss Keeling's murder.

Local man Samson D'Souza, 29, appeared in court on Monday charged with her rape but not with murder.