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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Josh Halliday

British woman missing on Greek island found dead in remote area

Susan Hart
Susan Hart’s family said she planned to read a book while her husband went rock climbing but then could not be found. Photograph: handout

A woman who went missing on holiday on a Greek island three weeks ago has been found dead in a remote area.

Susan Hart, 74, from Bath, was in Telendos with her husband, Ed, when she disappeared on 30 April.

Her family said she had planned to read a book while her husband went rock climbing but then could not be found.

Hart’s daughter, Ruth Landale, said her mother had been showing symptoms of dementia over the last few years but had not yet received a diagnosis.

The family were heartbroken, she said, adding: “It’s been a stressful and distressing time for the whole family.”

A postmortem examination is expected to take place in Greece before Hart’s body can be repatriated to Switzerland, where she was living.

Hart has three daughters who grew up in Bath but now live in Canada, Australia and London with their young families. She had four grandchildren.

In an appeal for information last week, her family said they felt the local police had been “obstructing” the search and the British consulate had been “pretty powerless” to help.

They said the police had “lied” to them about search and rescue dogs assisting the search from the beginning – they did not arrive, she said, until nine days after Hart’s disappearance, after the family were subsequently told to arrange it themselves.

Local police also claimed that specialist divers would join the search, Landale said, but three days later they were told senior officers in Athens had blocked the request.

Then they were told that Hart’s family could view CCTV footage, yet later the same day her husband was “suddenly denied access and the police changed the story”, they said.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are providing consular assistance to the family of a British woman who has been reported missing in Greece and are in contact with the local authorities.”

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