Scotland Yard detectives are preparing to travel to Grenada to investigate the death of a British father-of-one, Andrew Frederick, who was found dead in his holiday home on the island in January. His family alleges that local police dismissed evidence of a violent assault and that the investigation was mishandled, potentially to protect the island's reputation as a tourist destination.
Frederick, a 47-year-old luxury property manager from west London, was discovered in a pool of blood in the living room of his family's holiday home in the affluent Lance Aux Epines neighborhood on January 4. Days earlier, he had told his family he believed an intruder had broken into his house. Visitors at nearby holiday lodges reported hearing "cries for help" from the direction of his home on the night he died.
The Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) initially investigated the death but concluded it was accidental, suggesting Frederick fell from a mezzanine level. His parents became concerned when detectives reportedly dismissed bloodstains, handprints, and shoeprints at the scene, attributing them to a spilled drink and patterns on the tiles.
Disturbed by the RGPF's findings, Frederick's family commissioned a private post-mortem examination. Professor Hubert Daisley, a pathologist in the West Indies, found that Frederick had sustained numerous injuries, including a defensive wound on his arm, and noted the possible torture indicated by the removal of his big toenail. The family's private investigator, a former RGPF detective, described the police work as "beyond incompetent" and noted bloody shoeprints on the stairs and handprints on furniture, contradicting the accidental fall theory.
Despite these findings, Grenadian authorities closed their investigation five months later, ruling the death as accidental. An inquest at a west London coroner's court was suspended in September after the coroner acknowledged the findings of the private post-mortem. The Metropolitan Police subsequently launched their own investigation into Frederick's "unascertained" death.
"From day one, the police had already decided it was an accidental death, just 'a trip and a fall'," Frederick's father said in an interview. "To me, if a police officer goes to a crime scene, sees blood and says it's Campari, and says bloody handprints are just patterns in the tiles, that is deeply concerning."
The family and their supporters believe that Grenada's reliance on tourism may have influenced the local police's reluctance to pursue a murder inquiry. Tourism is a significant part of the country's economy, and authorities may have preferred to avoid highlighting violent crime statistics involving foreigners.
In a further twist, after Frederick's body was exhumed and repatriated to the UK in August at the family's request, the Metropolitan Police reported that all of his organs, as well as parts of his neck, were missing. The funeral home where the body was held has been unable to provide an explanation for their absence.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed they have contacted the RGPF to offer assistance and advance the investigation. No arrests have been made, and inquiries are ongoing. The RGPF declined to comment, stating their investigation is complete and the matter is now for a Coroner's Inquest.