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CONVICTED: Kate and William West

A 28-year-old woman has been found guilty of murdering her 76-year old husband by a court in The Gambia.

The body of William West, of Hastings, East Sussex, was found near his holiday home in the country in 2006, after he was reported missing by his wife. His remains were found in a sack.

Kate West, who initially claimed the retired businessman had disappeared in Senegal, was given a life term and told she would be spared the death penalty.

Gambian Police Force spokesman Sulayman Secka told the BBC she would be transferred to the state Central Prison in Banjul.

West, who was a mature student, had claimed her husband went missing during a daytrip to Senegal on July 3, in 2006.

She told authorities he vanished while she waited outside a shop for him to buy a cigar. She said she returned firstly to their Gambian home and then to the UK to look for him.

Mr West was registered as missing when his wife returned to The Gambia and the authorities later alerted Sussex Police.

She later told police that five Nigerian men had taken the 76-year-old from their luxury property in Sanyang and killed him.

Officers from Sussex Police travelled to The Gambia to help with the investigation.

An inquest into West’s death in Hastings, in May 2007, heard she eventually confessed to murdering him and

setting his body alight.

The coroner recorded an unlawful killing verdict.

A statement from the solicitor representing Mr West's brother, Albert, said: ‘This has been a protracted and traumatic time for Mr West's family.

‘They are pleased that justice has now been done and that Kate West has been brought to account for her crime. The family of Mr West have asked me to thank Sussex Police for their skill and diligence in bringing this matter to the attention of the Gambian authorities.

‘The family hopes they will now be able to move on with their lives.’

However, defence counsel Lamin Camara said Kate West plans to appeal against the conviction.

Published: 11 November 2009
Issue: 1397

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