Six questioned over Antigua honeymoon murder

(PA)

Police in Antigua are questioning six suspects over the murder of a British doctor shot dead on her honeymoon, according to local media reports today.

Catherine Mullany, 31, was killed in her hotel room at a luxury resort on the Caribbean island. Her husband Benjamin Mullany, also 31, was shot in the neck and is in critical condition.

South Wales Police said the couple had been due to fly home on Monday, the day after the shooting. The force has appointed two officers to support the families.

Detectives on the island are questioning six people, although they have not been arrested or charged, the BBC and Sky News reported, citing local journalists. No one from Antigua's police could immediately be reached to confirm the reports.

A tourist staying in a beachside bungalow close to the couple described hearing gunshots at 5am.

"I heard three shots. It was such a dreadful sound," Beverley Stairs told the Daily Mirror. "It is so horrible. I feel very, very angry. They were such a lovely couple."

In a statement, the couple's parents said: "We are deeply shocked and devastated at the recent events in Antigua and are struggling to comprehend what has happened to Ben and Catherine."

The Foreign Office said its consular officials would help the families.

Police have not released details of the shootings and have not commented on reports that the attack followed a bungled robbery. Officers have set up checkpoints in the area and are searching the scene of the shootings for clues.

The couple, from south Wales, married on 12 July and left for the Caribbean two days later.

Catherine Mullany worked in the paediatric unit at the Singleton Hospital in Swansea and was training to be a GP.

Dr Mike Cosgrove, a clinical director at the hospital, said: "She had so looked forward to her wedding. She had talked about it for months. Nobody can believe what has happened."