Detectives raced to the scene in Cancun, Mexico after the alarm was raised at a city hotel just after 5am local time, to find a British man was dead in a pool of his own blood
A British man has been found dead in a pool of blood in his hotel room in the Mexican resort of Cancun and his wife beside him with cuts to her arms.
Detectives raced to the scene after the alarm was raised at a city hotel just after 5am local time this morning.
Initial unconfirmed reports pointed to a possible crime of passion. Local prosecutors said in their first official comments an investigation is still ongoing but they are currently treating the incident as a possible suicide pact which ended with only the husband taking his own life.
The 58-year-old British tourist found dead is said to have been discovered with a broken bottle between his legs and blood around the room as well as on his arms and chest.
His 53-year-old wife was taken to hospital with multiple cuts to her arms amid unconfirmed reports she may have been under the effects of an unknown substance. Sources close to the ongoing investigation said she had now been released and the cuts were not “deep ones”.
No arrests are thought to have been made but her current whereabouts are not known. Some Mexican local newspapers started reporting earlier today that the case was being treated as a homicide and the dead man’s wife was a suspect.
Last night prosecutors distanced themselves from the idea the death was linked to a crime in their first official statement on the incident. Sources confirmed both the dead man and his wife were British.
A spokesman for the Attorney General’s office in the state of Quintana Roo, which Cancun is part of, said: “After receiving reports a foreign tourist had died in a hotel in the municipality of Benito Juarez, an investigation was launched to clarify what had happened. The initial lines of investigation are pointing to this tragic incident being a possible suicide, in which two people had the intention of ending their lives.”
The spokesman added: “There is currently close cooperation with the consulate to offer the support the families involved need.” A source close to the investigation said: “Both the dead man and his partner were travelling on British passports. The investigation remains open at this stage despite the initial findings.”
Another said: “The British man’s wife is now out of hospital.” It was not immediately clear if the couple were accompanied by other family and friends.
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