British canoeist Emma Kelty was tortured and raped as she died after being shot, villagers have claimed.

The full details of the adventurer's last moments were revealed in a confession by one of the suspects hours after the attack.

Ringleader Evanilson Gomes da Costa, 24, died Wednesday after being shot by rival gangsters.

Residents of the small riverside community of Lauro Sodre, near to where the crime took place, said all seven men accused of her murder are well-known drugs users in the village.

And one local who knows da Costa - known by his nicknamed Baia - said the gangster spoke to him in the early hours of the morning following Ms Kelty's death last Wednesday night, revealing what they had done.

The man, who didn't want to be named, said: "He said he was one of four men. The woman had put up her tent on the beach in exactly the area where the Colombia drug traffickers go through, and which is crawling with pirates who wait for them to arrive to attack.