Arrest over expat murder

Police say similarities in two murder cases led them to suspect

POLICE IN the north say similarities between a murder that happened 15 years ago and that of 93 year-old Joseph Swindells, whose decomposing body was found in his Kyrenia home last weekend, was what led to the arrest of a Turkish Cypriot suspect early on Sunday morning.
Swindell’s was strangled with an electric cable and beaten over the head with a garden spade several days before the discovery of his body on Saturday night.

But what led police to arrest 42 year-old Yalcin Huseyin Solat was the way Swindell’s body had been left concealed under a mound of household items – something that jogged the memory of at least one officer at the crime scene into remembering a murder that took place almost fifteen years previously.

Solat served fourteen years for the murder of his neighbour, and was released barely a year ago.
A police spokesman said yesterday Solat had confessed to Swindells’ murder, but only after police told him of they were aware of the similarity between the two murders.

According to police, Solat’s statement claims he had no intention of murdering Swindells, and sought only to burgle the victim’s home. He said he only became violent when challenged by the victim. This, the police spokesman said, was the same reason Solat gave for murdering his neighbour 15 years ago.

The suspect was brought before a magistrate last Sunday and remanded for three days. On Wednesday he appeared in court again and was remanded for a further eight days while enquiries continue. He is yet to be charged.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.