Scarlett Keeling's Mother Writes To Indian PM To Urge Reinvestigation

Scarlett Keeling's Mother Writes To Indian PM To Urge Reinvestigation
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The mother of British schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling has said she is battling for a reinvestigation into her daughter's killing at an Indian beach resort in 2008.

Fiona MacKeown revealed that she had written to the Indian prime minister after two men were cleared of raping and killing the 15-year-old in Goa.

The teenager's bruised and half naked body was found on the shores of the popular Anjuna beach, having drowned after allegedly being plied with drugs.

Following the acquittal of the suspects in her death, Ms MacKeown said she hoped for a widespread investigation into how the case was handled.

She told Good Morning Britain: "We've written to the prime minister - he seems like a courageous man, he's making some big changes in India.

"Ideally, I'd like a reinvestigation, I'd like the police investigated that lied to me and told the other younger policeman to treat it as an accident and not a murder.

"I'd like the ministers who delayed the handing over to the CBI (the Central Bureau of Investigation, (India's elite national police agency) investigated and then maybe we might get to the bottom of it.

"That's my biggest wish, a new investigation."

A first post-mortem examination ruled that Scarlett died from accidental drowning, before a second, carried out under pressure from her mother, prompted a new investigation to be launched.

The youngster had been visiting the country on a family holiday at the time of her killing, but had attended a Valentine's Day beach party while the rest of her relatives had gone travelling.

Ms MacKeown alleged that the investigative process was initially hindered by a reluctance in the Indian criminal justice system to admit a tourist had been murdered.

She added: "It wouldn't be very good for their tourism and the drug trade over there is huge, it goes right up to some of the ministers and some of the police are involved in it - a huge loss of money.

"The guys directly trying to cover up the murder are involved in the drug trade."

The heartbroken mother also spoke of how she would "regret for the rest of my life" the decision to let her daughter go to the party alone.