British man arrested in Ecuador after woman’s body found in suitcase in Colombia | Ecuador

A British man has been arrested in Ecuador after a woman’s body was found inside a suitcase in Colombia.

Matthew Ashley Foster-Smith allegedly caused the death of 36-year-old Natalia Villalba at an apartment in Bogotá’s Chicó neighborhood on June 18, local authorities said.

Foster-Smith, from Bournemouth, Dorset, reportedly called the Sun the day before his arrest and said he was watching an England World Cup match on television at the time of the incident.

The 46-year-old told the newspaper: “I was watching England v Croatia on the big screen in a pub in Ireland, so it wasn’t me.” “After the game, I went to the mall, walked around, got an ice cream and came back for the next games.”

England’s opening World Cup match was played in Dallas, Texas, on 17 June.

The Sun reported that the suspect called the newspaper a second time on Friday before his arrest, and a source located him through phone calls to the newspaper.

A post on the official X account of the attorney general’s office in Colombia stated that Foster-Smith is accused of beating Villalba to death, then putting his body in a suitcase, trying to hide what happened and fleeing the scene.

Dorset police are said to have been among the authorities who helped locate him before he was detained at Quito international airport in the Ecuadorian capital. An arrest warrant was issued by prosecutors in Colombia and Interpol issued a red notice, local authorities said.

Bogotá mayor Carlos Fernando Galán said Dorset police assisted in the operation. “This painful case will not go unpunished,” he said.

A spokesman for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We are supporting a British man who has been detained in Ecuador and is in contact with local authorities.”

Dorset police were approached for comment on Sunday.