The mystery over the death of an ex-BBC journalist found hanged in a Turkish airport deepened yesterday as local police admitted they are not certain she committed suicide.

Jacqueline Sutton, 50, was on her way from Heathrow to Irbil in Iraq on Saturday when she missed her connecting flight at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport.

She appeared ‘distressed’ because she could not afford to buy a new ticket and was later discovered hanged in the toilets, Turkish media reported.

But yesterday police at the airport described the circumstances surrounding her death as ‘suspicious’ as they revealed she had 2,300 euros in her bag.

Jacqueline Sutton, 50, was on her way from Heathrow to Irbil in Iraq on Saturday when she missed her connecting flight at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport

One officer, who did not want to be named, said: ‘We are not certain that it is a suicide. Her death is still being investigated. It’s suspicious.

Why would somebody who was found with thousands of euros kill themselves because they had no money? And she looks calm in all of the footage.’

CCTV footage published by Turkish media shows Miss Sutton walking through the airport shortly before her death. The international development worker is seen wearing jeans, a blue jacket and trainers, and is carrying a red rucksack as well as a smaller handbag.

The events surrounding her final moments still remain unclear.

Hertfordshire-born Miss Sutton arrived in Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight late on Saturday. She was due to fly on to Irbil, where she had been working as the Iraq director of London-based charity the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR).

But, according to an official at Turkish Airlines, Miss Sutton’s Irbil ticket was cancelled at 11.45pm when she failed to go to the boarding gate. Later, she is said to have gone to the transfer desk and become ‘distressed’ when she was told she would need to buy a new ticket. The official said their records indicated that Miss Sutton did not purchase a new one.

Jacky Sutton with Mazin Elias in Istanbul, Turkey, in the summer of 2013. The Iraqi journalist said it was 'impossible' that she committed suicide

Her body was later found in a toilet cubicle near passport control. A cleaner at the airport said: ‘The lady who looks after those toilets had gone off to wash her mop and it happened when she was gone. It happened within ten minutes.

Miss Sutton’s friends had poured scorn on the official version of events and voiced fears she was murdered. They called for a full investigation into how Miss Sutton – who had recently spoken of fears she would be targeted by Islamic State – had died.

Lorna Tychostup, who worked with her in 2010, said: ‘I lived with her in Baghdad in her compound in her villa [for] at least four months. I saw her under a tremendous amount of stress. She handled herself with dignity, with strength. So it’s nonsense [to say she was] crying because she missed a flight. The idea that she would not have funds to take her wherever she wanted is ludicrous.

‘She definitely rattled cages. I’m sure she had some people who didn’t like her in places of power.’

Travelling: The former BBC journalist had flown from London Heathrow to Istanbul's Ataturk Airport (file picture), but is believed to have failed to make it on her next flight to Erbil in Iraq

This year Miss Sutton lost three colleagues in a month to terror attacks, including her predecessor as the IWPR’s Iraq director, Ammar Al Shahbander, who was killed by a car bomb in Baghdad in May. She had been on her way back from his memorial service in London last week.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘Our embassy staff are assisting Jacky Sutton’s family.’ But Miss Sutton’s eldest sister Alison, a child psychologist, said that none of the authorities had been in touch with her.

It is understood that British security officials are not currently involved in the investigation.