Suspect confesses to beating Winter

Dubai: The Chief of Dubai Police has confirmed that a British suspect, held for the disappearance of a South African resident, has confessed to beating and dumping her in the desert.

Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim confirmed the British detainee has confessed to beating the woman and leaving her on the roadside. "Investigations are still going on," he told Gulf News.

Relatives are still waiting to find Kerry Winter, 35, who was attacked by a British man with whom she had recently broken up.

Kurt Winter, 41, Kerry's brother, had a blood test yesterday to establish that a woman found in the desert this week is not his sister, who went missing on August 20. The woman found is believed to be from the Asian sub-continent and according to the Dubai Police chief is "an abortion case".

Volunteers will meet this morning for a widespread search for the missing South African.

The British Embassy in Dubai said they are offering consular assistance to the suspect. All assistance is given on request and confidential, said the embassy spokesman.

Apparently, the detainee's teenage son from another relationship was allowed to visit his father at the Bur Dubai police station. "It's the same old routine. He is still telling us the same story. His son came to see him as well," said Winter. "As soon as he saw me there he turned his back on me," he added.

Winter said Kerry had previously met her ex-boyfriend's wife. Kerry and her ex-lover were dating for five years and had also lived together.

When Kerry initiated the break-up and later threatened to put a restraining order on her ex-boyfriend who apparently was abusive, a fight broke out between the pair, said Winter. "He followed her home and beat her," Winter told Gulf News.

Kerry's vehicle, which the Briton bundled her into, was found near the Police Academy in Al Sufouh.

Near her home in Al Barsha, workers at a construction site told Gulf News they had heard fighting between a man and a woman until finally they saw a car speed away.