From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok
Tuesday June 30th 2009
Pictures: Andrew Chant
Link to Daily Mail story
A retired British surveyor who survived an attempted assassination by communist rebels in the Philippines has been found murdered with his throat cut during a robbery at his home.
The body of Paul Roberts, 61, was found by his 12-yr-old son Daniel at their home in Barangay Tinigaw, on Payan island in the Central Philippines.
Paul Roberts with Filipina wife and children
Roberts, from Loughborough, took a blow to the head then had his throat slit when the raiders entered his he second floor bedroom at his home in Aklan Province early on Monday.
Kalibo police chief Senior Insp. Arnolito Laguerta said: “At the moment we are looking for the murder weapons, a knife and a hammer. We do not know how many people were involved.”
Just three months ago he was treated for a gun shot wound in the nearby town of Kalibo, when he was shot by a drive bygunman riding pillion on a drive by motorcycle.
Police later arrested two men identified as Warlito Andrade and Michael Bastes, both alleged members of the Alex Boncayao Brigade of the Revolutionary Proletariat Army.
Roberts had a miraculous escape after a bullet just grazed his mouth tearing his lip.
His wife said: “I have no idea of the cause of the shooting Paul had no enemies. Probably just because he was a foreigner.”
Early Monday Amy was trussed up with electric cable, blindfolded and had tissues forced into her mouth to stop her screaming, all while the couple’s three young children were sleeping in nearby bedrooms.
Mrs. Roberts, who is recovering in a local hospital said: “My husband nudged me to wake me up in the middle of the night because he had heard something in the house. Then as I got up a man shone a torch into my eyes. I could see his fat stomach but nothing else.
“Then they grabbed me while I could hear my husband fighting with the others. It was pitch black I had no idea what had happened to Paul. I think there must have been 4 or 5 of them.
“Finally at 5 in the morning I managed to get the tissue out of my mouth and screamed for help. Our maid and our eldest 12-year-old son, came into the bedroom, saw Paul dead in a pool of blood on the bed and took me out quickly.”
The family home in the Philippines
Mr Roberts, a quantity surveyor, who also has two daughter aged 5 and 7, met his wife in Singapore in 1993 when he was working as a quantity surveyor for George Wimpey.
The couple later moved to Hong Kong where Paul worked on the new international airport. They married in 1996, had 3 children and moved to Kalibo in 2002 to retire. The town is the stopping off point for the nearby paradise island of Boracay.
His brother Mr. Peter Roberts said: “This is a big shock. Paul was very amiable, very easy going, and very happily married.”