Roger Pratt, 62, is understood to have been shot on a boat moored off the Vieux Fort coast as he defended his wife Margaret from robbers who had boarded the vessel Photo: SWNS
Retired British businessman knocked unconscious and left to drown after robbers attacked boat in Vieux Fort
By Raf Sanchez, St Lucia
The killers of a British yachtsman murdered in St Lucia beat him with their fists until he suffered brain damage before leaving him to drown, a pathologist said today.
Roger Pratt, 62, died defending his wife from three robbers who attacked their boat as it lay moored off the Caribbean island last Friday.
Dr Stephen King, who examined the body, told The Telegraph that the retired businessman had been beaten unconscious before he drowned in the southern port of Vieux Fort.
"There was blunt trauma and there was brain damage," Dr King said. "The wounds didn't look like clubs or pieces of metal, they were more in keeping with fists."
Five men have been arrested so far in connection with the murder. Dr King said that the detectives would examine their knuckles for any signs of injuries from inflicting the beating.
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Mr Pratt also suffered two broken ribs during the attack and salt water was found in his lungs. The official cause of death was given as "asphyxia secondary to blunt force trauma".
There were no traces of DNA found under Mr Pratt's fingernails, a common sign of a struggle, but Dr King said he believed from the injuries that Mr Pratt had died fighting.
Incorrect early reports claimed that the attackers arrived armed with guns or knives but police have found no evidence weapons were used.
Vernon Francois, the police commissioner, said detectives believe the men had only intended to rob the boat and may have been surprised to find Mr Pratt and his wife Margaret, 60, aboard.
"This appears to have been intended as a robbery and went out of control," Commissioner Francois said.
Three men were initially arrested on Saturday near the scene of the crime following a tip-off from the local community.
Police said the men, all in their mid-twenties, are cooperating with investigators and all three are expected to face charges.
Two more men were arrested on Tuesday as police expanded the scope of the investigation. It is not clear if the pair are believed to have taken part in the killing or acted as accomplices.
Police are now in the stage of reviewing evidence with the island's director of public prosecutions to determine potential charges.
Dr King said it was impossible to tell from the post-mortem whether a single person had inflicted Mr Pratt's injuries or if all three robbers had taken part.
Mr Pratt's body has been released from the mortuary at Victoria Hospital in Castries, the St Lucian capital, into the care of his widow.
Mr and Mrs Pratt had both retired recently after running a successful management consultancy business from their home in the prosperous hamlet of Moreton Paddox, near Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire.
After making detailed preparations for their dream trip sailing across the Atlantic and around the Caribbean, they rented out their house and set off from Lowestoft, Suffolk, last July.
The couple sailed to Portugal and the Canary Islands aboard their yacht, Magnetic Attraction, and reached St Lucia in time for New Yearﾒs Eve and Mrs Pratt's 60th birthday on January 8.
The St Lucian government is eager to see a swift prosecution to reassure the British and American tourists upon whom the island's economy depends.
The country of 180,000 suffers around 40 homicides a year and has the world's 22nd highest murder rate, according to UN figures.
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