Pastor David Brash, 62, was apparently battered to death and his body dumped in a swamp in the Philippines only 21 days after he left the UK for a new life with his young wife.



A police chief on the island of Mindanao said that his 23-year-old bride, Analyn Batalyer, confessed to detectives that she paid two hitmen £350 (30,000 Philippine Pesos) to have him murdered.



"She revealed during police interrogation that out of hatred and anger, because of her husband’s maltreatment, she had him killed," Senior Supt Ramon Espiritu said.



Mr Brash, a father-of-two, had previously led the Runcorn Independent Baptist Church in Cheshire.