A JURY today sensationally cleared the man accused of murdering Oxfordshire schoolteacher Joanne Clarke in the Bahamas, writes Paul Harris.

Her horrified family were in court as 20-year-old Tennel McIntosh - who is partially blind, deaf and has a mental age of ten - collapsed to his knees in the dock and prayed as the jury foreman cleared him of charges of rape and murder.

The jury had saved him from the gallows as murder is still punishable by death in the Bahamas.

Joanne, 24, of Warwick Road, Banbury, was murdered in the Bahamas resort of Cabbage Beach in August 1998. She had been hit over the head with a blunt object, burned on the thighs with what could have been a cigarette and had injuries consistent with rape. Her body was found on scrubland bordering the beach and a golf course. The jurors in the capital Nassau reached their decision after hearing claims from defence lawyers that police tampered with evidence and beat McIntosh to make him confess on a videotape recording.

The court heard he was framed by investigating officers intent on protecting the lucrative Bahamas tourist industry.

McIntosh's lawyer, Godfrey Pinder, had argued that the police tried to frame McIntosh in order to convince foreign tourists - on whom the Bahamas economy depends - that the islands were safe. He claimed the police used extracted a forced confession and suggested they had tampered with DNA evidence.

Officers involved consistently denied the claims throughout the case.

Joanne's mother Susan flew to Nassau for the trial, hoping to see her daughter's killer brought to justice. Instead, the acquittal of Tennel McIntosh leaves the brutal murder unsolved.

A paradise touched by taint of evil

Story date: Thursday 24 February

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