An Afghan man has been arrested over the alleged murder of a British refugee support volunteer whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase in Greece.
The remains of Elisabeth-Jane Ross, 38, were found in an abandoned building in Athens by a homeless man on July 18, and on Sunday night Greek police arrested a 26-year-old man from Afghanistan.
Police have not identified the man or revealed his immigration status, and are expected to charge him on Monday with intentional homicide, robbery and weapons offences.
Ms Ross’s cause of death is yet to be determined as her body was badly decomposed by the time it was found, but police believe she most likely died by asphyxiation.
Police sources said the suspect had recently converted to Christianity and told his wife he had argued with Ms Ross because she wanted him to join a “stricter” Christian group, the Daily Mail reported.
Ms Ross, who is from Edinburgh, was a missionary and member of independent Christian church City on a Hill, and regularly visited Greece to volunteer for NGOs including One Heart, which provides medical support to refugees from Afghanistan and Iran.
Police said she moved to the city centre of Athens on July 2 in order to carry out her volunteer work, and 14 days later the suspect was caught on CCTV arriving at her apartment by car.
At 10pm that night he was seen carrying a suitcase towards the derelict site where Ms Ross’s body was found, and left the abandoned carpark empty-handed 13 minutes later.
Police believe he then sent a series of text messages from Ms Ross’s phone to her father and other family members in order to mislead them into believing she was still alive.
The Afghan also used Ms Ross’s credit cards, and police tracked him down thanks to the CCTV and with the help of his wife.
She told police she became suspicious after seeing the news about Ms Ross’s body being found, and because her husband had given her about £2,000 and a brand new iPhone.
“The woman told us that her husband had confided in her that he was angry with the British woman. She was trying to influence him religiously and it became too much for him,” the police source said.
“The testimony of the wife has been crucial and it would appear that she did not want to be part of the crime committed by her husband. Without her and CCTV evidence, we would not have been able to find this man.”
Greek media has also reported that the suspect was in possession of the key’s to Ms Ross’s apartment, and that he was the partner of one of her friends.
Header image: Left, right, Elisabeth-Jane Ross (supplied).
