Police in Jamaica have pledged extra security for returning residents after the murder of five British and Canadian retirees on the Caribbean island.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) said it would appoint a specialist liaison officer in each police division to monitor cases of returnees being targeted amid a pattern of violent incidents.

The statement came hours after the Guardian reported a warning from senior Jamaican police officials that expats who returned to the island were seen as soft targets and were at “extreme risk” of being killed.

Gayle and Charlie Anderson, aged 71 and 74, had recently retired to Jamaica from Manchester when they were fatally stabbed and their bodies burned in a firebomb attack at their home in Mount Pleasant.

Jamaican murder police investigate deaths of retired British couple Read more

The double murder in the Portland parish last Saturday followed the killing in April of 63-year-old Birmingham charity worker Delroy Walker and two Canadian pensioners in January.



Selvin Hay, Jamaica’s deputy commissioner of police and head of crime, said on Saturday: “Our focus on the safety and protection of our returning residents is unequivocal. We take all reported incidents of crimes against them seriously and will further our work with our partners in government and non-government organisations to ensure communities are safe spaces for all who live, work or visit.”

The JCF said it would review all serious unsolved crimes against the approximately 30,000 returning residents on the island.

As part of additional security measures, the force said it would establish a point of contact for the Jamaican diaspora in Britain, the US and Canada to raise concerns. A service would also be set up for police to conduct background checks on workers who returning residents may wish to employ.

The force said: “The JCF is offering assurance to returning residents that their safety and security remains a high priority of the organisation, strategies and support systems are currently being bolstered for their protection.

“This comes against the background of the recent incidents against returning residents and the concerns expressed by members of the diaspora to the commissioner, whilst in recent meetings in the United Kingdom.”

The targeting of returning residents is not new, with criminals viewing them as wealthy and often naive about security in a country with one of the highest murder rates in the western hemisphere.

Percival Latouche, the president of the Jamaica Association for the Resettlement of Returning Residents, said he believed more than 200 British, American and Canadian expats had been murdered in the country since 2000 and he had attended 165 funerals in that time.

A Guardian analysis of government data has found that at least 85 British, American and Canadian nationals have been murdered in Jamaica since 2012. Of those, at least 30 were British and eight were murdered last year, the highest annual murder toll of Britons on the island in at least five years.

In an average year, there are twice as many murders in Jamaica than in Britain, which has 20 times the population of the former. Last year, Jamaica recorded 1,616 murders, the highest in six years and equivalent to 31 a week, as the homicide rate rose by 20% in just 12 months. So far in 2018 there have been more than 600 killings, mainly linked to gang activity. Only 44% of homicides result in arrests.