Rebecca Dykes murder: Forensic examiner says similar attacks happen regularly against Lebanese women

Family describe 30-year-old as 'intelligent, ambitious and dedicated to her work'

The forensic examiner in the case of the murdered British diplomat Rebecca Dykes has said he sees "four or five" similar crimes every month against Lebanese and Syrian women.

A Lebanese security source on Monday said an Uber driver with a criminal record had confessed to killing the 30-year-old, who was found by the side of a main road outside Beirut on Sunday.

Ms Dykes had been working as a programme and policy manager with the Department of International Development and policy manager at the British embassy in the capital.

Her family described her as "genuine", as well as "intelligent, ambitious and dedicated to her work".

Official sources said preliminary investigations showed the murder was not politically motivated.

​Nehme Mallah, who carried out forensic examinations on Ms Dykes's body, told The Daily Star Lebanon this was the first incident involving a Western woman he had seen, but that similar attacks happened regularly against local women.

"This is the first time I've seen a case like this with a Westerner. But I see four or five of these cases a month – half of them Syrian, half Lebanese," the examiner said.

He said Ms Dykes was strangled and that investigators were still working to establish whether Ms Dykes was sexually assaulted.

The diplomat reportedly got into an Uber taxi after attending a colleague's leaving party on Friday night at a bar in the popular Gemmayzah district. She was set to return to the UK for Christmas the next day.