Tributes paid to Scots woman '˜stabbed to death' in Lapland

Tributes have been paid to a British tour guide who was stabbed to death in Lapland.
Rebecca Johnson, who was working as a tour guide in Lapland. Picture: ContributedRebecca Johnson, who was working as a tour guide in Lapland. Picture: Contributed
Rebecca Johnson, who was working as a tour guide in Lapland. Picture: Contributed

The victim was named locally as Rebecca Johnson, 26, from Burntisland in Fife.

Her body was discovered in the Finnish village of Kuttanen on Saturday.

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She was a member of the Santa Safari team which works with Oxford-based tour operator Transun Travel to organise Christmas-themed excursions to Lapland.

Finnish police attend the scene following the arrest of a man suspected of stabbing a Scottish tour worker to death in Lapland. Picture: PAFinnish police attend the scene following the arrest of a man suspected of stabbing a Scottish tour worker to death in Lapland. Picture: PA
Finnish police attend the scene following the arrest of a man suspected of stabbing a Scottish tour worker to death in Lapland. Picture: PA

Ms Johnson’s great-aunt Val Laing, who stays in Burntisland, said her great-niece would be greatly missed.

She said: “Rebecca was a beautiful girl. I had come home from Edinburgh when her grandad was on the phone to tell me what had happened. I couldn’t take it in at first.

“For her parents and grandparents to lose her just before Christmas is devastating. I’ll be there for them but I don’t know how they are going to cope.”

It is understood Ms Johnson’s parents have travelled to Lapland.

Finnish police attend the scene following the arrest of a man suspected of stabbing a Scottish tour worker to death in Lapland. Picture: PAFinnish police attend the scene following the arrest of a man suspected of stabbing a Scottish tour worker to death in Lapland. Picture: PA
Finnish police attend the scene following the arrest of a man suspected of stabbing a Scottish tour worker to death in Lapland. Picture: PA

Billy Allen, the owner of Bonzos The Dog Shop in Kirkcaldy, used to help Ms Johnson purchase dog equipment for expedition work.

He said: “She used to come round and see my dogs and bring her mum round and her sister and that kind of thing. And we helped her get her first dog.

“I heard that she was going out there [Finland] to do her thing and live her dream. That was what she always wanted to do.”

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In a post on the dog shop’s Facebook page, Mr Allen said that the incident was “very sad news”.

He said she set up “a good little business selling mushing equipment”.

Mr Allen added: “Her trip to Finland should have been the happiest days of her life... It was what she always talked of doing.”

Her 36-year-old Czech boyfriend has been arrested and is in police custody on suspicion of the killing following a police manhunt in Arctic conditions in temperatures of minus 30C (minus 22F).

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