Jamal Khashoggi: Saudi officials give Turkish police permission to search well at Istanbul consulate

Investigators hunting for journalists missing body were initially blocked from garden

Turkish officials have been granted permission to search a well at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul as part of investigations into the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi after Riyadh initially blocked their requests.

Washington Post columnist Khashoggi was killed at the consulate after entering on 2 October, Saudi officials have now admitted. His body has not been found.

Turkish authorities have previously carried out inspections at the consulate and consul general’s residence as they conduct investigations into the journalist's death.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said on Wednesday law enforcement had been prevented from examining a well in the garden of the property.

However, broadcaster NTV announced around an hour the decision had been overturned, allowing police to search the well.

Turkish authorities suspect Khashoggi was tortured and eventually murdered after he entered the consulate, before his body was dismembered and dumped at an unknown location.

Saudi authorities initially denied this version of events, before finally recanting their story to admit it sent a 15-man team to confront the journalist at the consulate, where an altercation eventually led to his death.

But Riyadh still maintains Khashoggi, an outspoken critic of the Saudi regime, was killed by accident in a botched rendition carried out by rogue operatives.

Despite numerous denials of his involvement, Saudi Arabia is struggling to prevent its crown prince and de facto leader, Mohammed bin Salman, being dragged into the controversy.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, Donald Trump said he believed the prince could have been behind the killing.

When asked about Crown Prince Mohammed’s possible involvement in the case, the president said: “Well, the prince is running things over there more so at this stage. He's running things and so if anybody were going to be, it would be him.”

Mr Trump said the Saudi’s had staged “the worst cover-up ever” over the incident, adding he had questioned the crown prince several times about the killing.

“My first question to him was, 'Did you know anything about it in terms of the initial planning?'“ Mr Trump told The Journal, saying the crown prince had insisted he had been unaware of the plot.

The president said he asked the prince “'Where did it start?' And he said it started at lower levels.”

Asked if he believed the denials, Mr Trump told the newspaper: “I want to believe them. I really want to believe them.”

Additional reporting by agencies