Police ordered to look again at city woman's death

MEXICAN officials have asked police to review the case of a great-grandmother who was found dead in a swamp weeks after vanishing from a luxury resort in Cancun.

Julia Howard, 77, disappeared from the Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort in June 2009, with her remains found more than five weeks later in a swamp three miles from the resort.

In January Mrs Howard's son, Henry Harvey, 58, and daughter Julia Brock, 57, told of their outrage after being informed that the Mexican police were seeking the family's permission to close the investigation into her death.

Now the Foreign Office has confirmed that assistant attorney general for the district of Quintana Roo, Rodolfo Garcia, has decided the case will remain open, and that police would be asked to review the file.

Mrs Brock, who lives in Firrhill, said: "We're pleased that they're going to do a review of it and if there's anything further to investigate, they will do it.

"But whether it actually leads to anything is debatable."

Mr Harvey, who lives in Balerno and is convinced his mother was murdered in Cancun, added: "To be honest, my thoughts are 'will they do anything?' It would be good if they did but I have got no faith in the Mexican police."

The family are to be given an update on the case next month.

They have heard very little from the Mexican authorities about the investigation in almost two years, and Mr Harvey believes his mother's death was never properly investigated.

The family received a report about the investigation from the Mexican police in November 2009. It revealed that they were treating the case as possible homicide, which contradicted the police's later claim that no crime was committed.

Mrs Brock has also requested the Foreign Office ask Mexican authorities to confirm a statement made to the family by the chief of the search and rescue police that it was not possible for Mrs Howard to have reached the swamp by herself.

Mr Harvey said: "I think it's very important to get this confirmation. We are going to pursue it but don't hold out a lot of hope.

"She did not get to the swamp on her own, that's for sure. That is a physical impossibility."

Mrs Howard, who lived in Roseburn, vanished from the Moon Palace just 12 hours after arriving with daughter Julia, son Henry and his wife, Glynnis, on a two-week holiday.

The widow had told her family that she was going to fetch her sun hat and then go for a walk. But the great-grandmother-of-seven never completed the 35-yard walk to her room and, according to security staff, there was no record of her having left the hotel.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: "We are in contact with both Mrs Howard's family and with the Mexican authorities, and we will continue to provide appropriate consular assistance to the family."