Monday, September 12, 2011
David Tebbutt, 58, and his wife Judith, 56, were on holiday at the remote Kiwayu Safari Village, close to the Kenyan border with Somalia, when the attack happened during the early hours of Sunday morning.
District Commissioner Stephen Ikua was quoted by The Times saying that a local man had been arrested on suspicion of helping co-ordinate the attack and was being held at a police station on the nearby island of Lamu.
Meanwhile, the Kenyan military has joined the hunt for Mrs Tebbutt.
Officials said the Tebbutts were attacked on the first night of their stay at the resort, with reports suggesting that bandits broke into their accommodation.
There are suspicions that the gang, thought to be from Somalia, used a speedboat to get away from the isolated island resort, which has played host to artist Tracey Emin, actress Imelda Staunton and reportedly Sir Mick Jagger. The couple had come from visiting the Masai Mara reserve and were the resort's only guests.
Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said the bandits could gain access to the couple's accommodation, which had a piece of cloth as a door, "so easily". He told a press conference it was possible that Mr Tebbutt had "resisted", which may have been why he was shot. He said that if the attackers were hoping for a ransom for Mrs Tebbutt, it was likely they would get in contact.
There has been speculation that the kidnappers could be from an al Qaida-linked insurgent group called al Shabab, which holds much of southern Somalia.
Mr Tebbutt, from Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, worked for publisher Faber & Faber and was a member of the Book Trade Charity, which offers support and grants to those in the book trade.
The Foreign Office said that a team had been deployed to the area from the High Commission in Nairobi and were "offering all possible support to the family of those involved".
Source: UKPA