'Truly amazing': British teacher Lauren Patterson has been found dead in Qatar after she went missing over the weekend

A British teacher is believed to have been murdered in Qatar hours after flying back to the Middle East from her grandmother’s funeral.

Friends of primary school teacher Lauren Patterson, 24, said she was last seen at a nightclub in the capital, Doha, with two Qatari men, one of whom was an ex-boyfriend.

Sources say police have found her body and were able to identify her from a distinctive tattoo, according to The Sun.



A friend said the ex-boyfriend had since gone to Saudi Arabia and Doha police had taken the other man, who had a bruised lip, in for questioning.

Last night there were suggestions from friends that Miss Patterson had left a nightclub at five-star hotel La Cigale with a group of Qatari men and had texted friends to say she was being taken to the wrong house.

One close friend posted a message on Twitter saying: ‘Lauren was raped and brutally murdered.’

The £180-a-night hotel has three nightclubs. Its website boasts ‘welcome to the best party in Doha’.

Miss Patterson was last seen outside La Cigale at 1.20am on Saturday, but it is not clear what happened next.

Doha police said they could not confirm whether Ms Patterson had died, what had happened to her or the progress of their investigation.



The man who was arrested, a friend of Miss Patterson’s ex-boyfriend, claimed he got his bruised lip after a fight with a taxi driver.

He claims the driver had dropped Miss Patterson at the wrong address. Police searched the man’s apartment but he was later released.

'You were the brightest star and always will be': Grieving boyfriend James Grima took to Facebook to confirm that Lauren had died

Sad time: Lauren had just returned to Doha from the UK last Friday where she had attended the funeral of her grandmother (pictured)

Friends suggested that Miss Patterson had left the nightclub at five-star hotel La Cigale (pictured) with a group of Qatari men

After Miss Patterson disappeared, her family and boyfriend launched a frantic campaign on Facebook and other social media to find her.

But 40 hours later, her boyfriend, James Grima, posted a message saying she was dead.

It was followed by dozens of other tributes, praising a ‘truly amazing’ young woman.

Yesterday, her mother Alison left her own online tribute, writing: ‘Thank you so much to everyone for all their wonderful words about Lauren.

‘She was a truly remarkable girl, my rock, always there for everyone. I know she’s in heaven now in her Daddy’s arms.’

Miss Patterson, who flew back from her grandmother’s funeral on Friday, was a primary teacher at Newton British School in Doha.

Her mother, a widow, lives with Lauren's younger brother and sister in Kent.

They had moved back to Britain only recently, after living in Luxembourg for seven years.

'A truly remarkable girl': Lauren (pictured with two unidentified children), originally from Chislehurst in south east London, was working at the Newton British School in the Qatari capital