Family of British woman who was murdered in Qatar are shocked to discover killer could be freed

The family of a British schoolteacher who was sexually assaulted then murdered in Qatar say they are shocked after discovering her killer could be freed within weeks despite being sentenced to death.

Lauren Patterson, 24, from Kent, was sexually assaulted and stabbed before her burnt remains were left smouldering in a remote desert location in October 2013. 

The following year Badr Hashim Khamis Abdallah al-Jabr was sentenced to death for her murder in Doha.

But Lauren’s mother Alison Patterson says that the death sentence, which should have at least kept him behind bars for life, has been drastically reduced.

‘I’m totally shocked, we relied on them so much and trusted them that they would give justice because it was promised so many times,’ Mrs Patterson told Kent Online.

‘He’s already served nearly six years so could be out within four or even earlier depending on good behaviour. Twice a year they pardon prisoners in Qatar so it might even be a matter of months.

‘I think I’m feeling worse as the day has gone on and the more I think about it – I really didn’t expect it. We’ve done everything we should have done but they’ve made fools out of us.

‘It seems as though if you are Qatari you have carte blanche to do whatever you want.’ 

Al-Jabr’s accomplice, Mohamed Abdallah Hassan Abdul Aziz, was jailed for three years for helping the killer to dispose of Miss Patterson’s body by burning it.

Miss Patterson was identified by DNA which was matched to her mother Alison (right), a reflexologist

At a hearing in 2014, Lea Monet testified how she, Miss Patterson and the two men, who she said they were ‘casually acquainted with’, had left a nightclub at La Cigale Hotel in Doha around 3.30am on October 12, 2013.

She said Miss Patterson, who had just returned from attending her grandmother’s funeral in England, was not drunk and was ‘aware of her surroundings’.

She said the men dropped her home with the promise they would also drop off her friend shortly afterwards at her house.

Alison Patterson, pictured with Lauren’s uncle Brian Roke, was in court in Doha to hear the verdict and sobbed upon hearing the death sentence for her daughter’s killer

Miss Monet told the court when she tried to call Miss Patterson the following morning her phone was off.

She said when she asked one of the two men about this, he said he could have dropped off Miss Patterson at the wrong building.

Miss Monet said the next day she noticed he had a cut on his lower lip and it was swollen, which were not there when she last saw him.

At the earlier hearing, the prosecutor said one of the defendants took Miss Patterson to a residence he used for sexual trysts with women, ‘conquered her body’, and killed her by stabbing her twice.

Miss Patterson, from Kent, worked at a primary school in the Qatari capital

The 24-year-old was working as a teacher at The Newton International School in Doha (pictured) for several months before she was killed

He said with the help of the second defendant, he put Miss Patterson’s body in the boot of his car and drove her out of the city of Doha to Al-Kharrara, where they burned her remains.

He said Miss Patterson, who worked at a primary school in Doha, had been sexually assaulted but forensic tests could not prove this because the remains were too badly burned.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: ‘Our staff have been supporting the family of Lauren Patterson throughout the legal process and will continue to support them following their tragic loss.’