Karen Crabtree is desperate for answers into what she believes are the ‘suspicious’ circumstances around his death
The wife of a British salesman who was found dead in Belize thinks he was murdered and his organs harvested.
Philip Crabtree, from Northumberland, was found floating face up in the sea on June 28 after a night out in the beach resort of Placencia.
He had injuries to his head and hand, and his wallet and phone were missing.
Police in Belize have since ruled the 58-year-old’s death an accident, saying his injuries were consistent with drowning.
But his wife Karen, from Cramlington, is convinced that something more sinister had happened.
‘There’s too many things that don’t add up,’ she said.
‘If he had died of cancer or been hit by a bus it would be easier to come to terms with, but everything is so suspicious, I don’t know if we’ll ever get the answers.’
After learning of her husband’s death, Ms Crabtree was horrified to then learn that his organs had been removed, with the funeral home saying they had been taken after the autopsy and burned.
Ms Crabtree said: ‘I just don’t believe that, I think they’ve been harvested.’
Philip and Karen Crabtree were separated at the time of his death, but Ms Crabtree said they were still in contact and were good friends
The pair met through a mutual friend in 2009 and married in 2013. At the time of Mr Crabtree’s death they had been separated for two years, but were still on good terms and spoke regularly.
According to his wife, after their separation Mr Crabtree had moved to Portugal for a year, and in March this year told his family he had met a woman online who lived in Belize and was planning to go over there.
She said: ‘I think he was going to see what it was like and get a feel for the place.’
But after less than three months in the Central American country, he was found dead off the shore of Palencia.
A statement from local police reported by Belize radio station Love FM said the 58-year-old had been socialising in Placenica Village on the Thursday evening and was last seen going to the beach with a bottle of rum.
He was discovered floating in the water the next morning by a local fisherman.
The pair, pictured at Christmas together, met through a mutual friend in 2009 and married in 2013 before separating two years ago. Mr Crabtree had moved to Belize for another woman and had living there for three months at the time of his death
As reported by Love FM at the time, assistant commissioner of police and head of the National Crimes Investigation Branch said: ‘…Mr Crabtree was socialising in Placencia Village from the evening and sometime after 9pm he was in the company of a Belizean socialising.’
The commissioner said the Belizean then left and Mr Crabtree was last seen going ‘in the direction of the beach with a bottle of rum and that was the last time he was seen alive’.
He said a subsequent post mortem found the British man had died from ‘asphyxia due to fluid inhalation which is consistent with drowning’ and that a small cut above his eye was ‘consistent with a fall into the water’.
Ms Crabtree first learnt of his death on the Saturday – a day after he was found – when police called to say they ‘had some bad news’.
‘They came to see me to tell me my husband had passed away. I was traumatised, devastated. It’s just horrendous.
‘I feel like I’m in a dream, I keep pinching myself trying to wake myself up but it’s not happening.’
Ms Crabtree then learnt from the funeral home in Belize that Philip’s organs had been taken without consent.
She has, subsequently, filed a complaint via the British Embassy.
An email from the funeral home said that when the mortician arrived at the hospital to prepare the body ‘he found out all the organs was removed after the autopsy was done and the attendant at the morgue told him they were burned’.
Karen is now faced with raising more than £9,000 to bring Philip’s body back to the UK.
She said the funeral home was going to cremate him, but she refused as she wanted his whole body back.
‘I do feel he’s been murdered, there’s too many things that don’t add up.
‘Why wasn’t his wallet on him when he’d been out socialising?
‘I asked how he was identified and they said he had his passport on him, but Philip would never carry his passport on him in case he lost it.
‘They’ve done an autopsy and said it was death by asphyxiation and drowning – but why had he drowned? They’re not investigating it.
‘He had head trauma above his left eye, and cuts and marks on his right hand.
‘So much has gone on. I have no answers and I’m not going to find out now.
‘It’s devastating. Yes we were separated but he was still my husband.
‘I know we were going to get a divorce but I’d rather have a divorce than be a widow.’
Philip and Karen Crabtree in happier times. Ms Crabtree is convinced her husband’s death was not an accident
Originally from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, the couple met through a mutual friend in 2009 and the pair lived together in Longframlington until their separation.
Ms Crabtree said: ‘We still spoke and we were friends to a certain extent. If he needed somebody to talk to I was always there. I was happy that he’d moved on with his life and he was happy that I’d moved on with mine.
‘His family are in bits. My eldest daughter doted on him, he was like a dad to her for 11 years.
‘None of it makes any sense, I can’t get my head round the whole thing.’
A spokesperson for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office said: ‘Our staff are supporting the family of a British man who has died in Belize, and we are in contact with the local authorities.’