British drugs trafficker found murdered in Indian guesthouse

A British woman released from jail in the Middle East, where she was convicted of drug trafficking, has been murdered in an Indian town notorious for the drugs trade.

Police believe Anna Bartlett, 25, was severely beaten before being thrown into a stream in the northern resort of Manali in Himachal Pradesh.

A witness has told police that Ms Bartlett was seen smoking hashish in the days before her death. When officers searched her room in a guesthouse, they said they found a drug used by vets as an anaesthetic and believe she was "into serious substance abuse".

Bartlett's troubles began five years ago when she travelled to Goa during her gap year, having secured a college place at Brighton.

There she met a man who persuaded her to become a drugs runner. He paid Ms Bartlett, the daughter of a retired schoolteacher and library assistant from Southend, Essex, £1,000 to swallow bags of cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis and carry them to Dubai.

She was caught and given a 25-year sentence, but was pardoned in June after serving two and a half years.

On her return home she spoke of her hopes for the future. "I put my family through hell," she said. "I will spend years trying to make this up to them." But she could not settle in the UK and set off back to India.

Indian police say Bartlett checked into the inexpensive and spartan Negi guesthouse in the village of Vashisht, two miles from Manali in the Kullu valley on September 25. The valley is famous for its fine quality hashish. The area has also been the scene of a number of drug-related murders and unexplained disappearances in the past few years.

She is said to have been seen smoking hashish and drinking with two young European men in a guesthouse in Manali's old town on Tuesday. Her shirtless body was found in the Beas river on Thursday.

Indian police said an autopsy revealed she had died of a head injury. There was also a swelling on her face and injuries to her nose and forehead.

The Kullu district superintendent of police, Anand Pratap Singh, said: "We are registering a case of murder as the autopsy clearly suggests she was probably beaten before her body was thrown into a stream leading to the river."

Mr Singh said a drug used as an anaesthetic on animals was found in her room. "She was into serious substance abuse," he claimed.

The police have already arrested a local drug addict in connection with the death. He claims that he, another addict and the two Europeans were with Ms Bartlett on the Tuesday evening.

He said she spent the night with one of the Europeans, who found her dead next morning.

The man summoned the others and they hid the body before throwing it into the stream.

Mr Singh said: "It is clear from her injuries that Miss Bartlett was severely beaten before she died, so the account does not seem altogether accurate." Police are now hunting the European men. The police chief said it was unclear whether there was a "drug mafia angle" to the death.

Following a police crackdown, Mr Singh claimed the area was much safer, though an Israeli traveller went missing in suspicious circumstances earlier this year.

Bartlett's family have said she was deeply upset by something that happened to her while travelling. They have said she has suffered from depression and has tried to commit suicide.

Following her release from prison, Bartlett, who dabbled in cannabis, LSD and ecstasy as a schoolgirl, was brutally honest about her motives for agreeing to smuggle drugs.

She told the Sunday Mirror: "I knew what I was doing was wrong, but all I was interested in was me, me, me and money, money, money. What I did was selfish and evil."