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Condemned British murderer set to hang in Singapore

SINGAPORE,: A 36-year-old Briton convicted of killing and dismembering a South African tourist is due this week to become the first Westerner to be hanged for murder in Singapore.

John Martin, also known as John Martin Scripps, will be hanged on Friday, the British Foreign Office said this week.

The Londoner was convicted last November of murdering Gerard George Lowe, 32, in their shared hotel room on March 8 of last year.

Lowe, a brewery engineer, came to Singapore on a shopping holiday and met Martin at the airport soon after arriving.

Parts of Lowe's hacked-up body, including his torso and legs, were later found floating in Singapore harbour wrapped in black bin-bags.

During a sensational trial that featured gruesome police photographs projected on a screen, prosecutors also alleged Martin killed two Canadian tourists in Thailand in March of 1995.

The severed remains of Sheila Mae Damude, 49, and her son Darin, 22, both of Victoria, British Columbia, were found on the holiday island of Phuket in late March of last year.

Judge T.S. Sinnathuray said in giving his verdict last year that there were "striking similarities" between the two cases.

Martin trained as a butcher while serving a 13-year sentence for heroin trafficking in Britain. He absconded in October 1994 while on a home visit.

British police detectives also believe Martin is linked to the disappearance of a management consultant, Timothy McDowell, 28, who went missing while on holiday in Belize in Central America, the Straits Times newspaper said on Tuesday.

While Martin admitted killing Lowe with hammer blows to the head, he said it happened in a burst of fear after a homosexual advance by the South African. Lowe's widow testified her husband was not homosexual.

Martin built his defence around claims that an anonymous British friend supposedly disposed of Lowe's body, killed the Damudes, gave Martin the victims' credit cards and demanded money.

But prosecutors argued that Martin was a serial killer who preyed on tourists. They said he went on a shopping spree and attended a classical music concert shortly after butchering Lowe.

Martin gave up his right to appeal early this year.

"He instructed us to inform the authorities that he did not want to pursue a petition for clemency, and he wanted the law to take its course," his lawyer, Edmond Pereira, told Reuters.-Reuter