Police issue update on 'British man lynched in Ecuador' and 'burned alive'

Ecuadorian police have released new information on the suspected British national who was killed in the South American country in an alleged vigilante killing.

On Sunday (20 April), a man described as 'British' and 'English' by local media was taken into custody on suspicion of fatally shooting a member of the rural community in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve region.

However, locals appeared to be unsatisfied with the man's arrest and descended on the region's police station en masse, all armed with guns and makeshift weapons.

Seeking a more definite and brutal resolution to the situation, the gang of locals - reported to number around 200 - dragged the man out of the police station in Sucumbios Province and enacted their own type of mob justice.

Which involved him being burned alive.

The incident took place in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve region of Ecuador (Getty Stock Images)

The man, who is yet to be formally identified, suffered unsurvivable injuries and died at around midday on Sunday, believed to be six hours after he was dragged from the station by the mob.

A local police chief from the Sucumbios region has now given an official statement about the events which took place, explaining that locals had reacted angrily after learning the man was to be transferred out of the region.

"The police did everything humanly possible to safeguard the person who had been apprehended over the shooting," he said, adding that locals had threatened to burn the entire police station to the ground.

"Unfortunately the size of the mob exceeded the capacities of the seven police officers who were at the scene."

The police chief also shared further details on the events which led up to the double killing, saying: "There had been problems between the two men that died. The man we believe to be British had shot a local man, causing his death."

The local man has since been identified as Rodrigo Chavez.

A gang of locals dragged the man, believed to be British, from the police station and burned him alive (Cuyabeno TV)

Although not much is known about the identity of the supposed British national killed, the police chief did reveal why he'd travelled to the region.

"We know that he was working and teaching English and was making reservations for tourists visiting the area," he said. "But we don’t have any more information right now and that is the focus of ongoing investigations which are seeking to determine his full name as well."

Going on to add that this was all of the available information at the time, he added: "We are still trying to establish the specific identity of the citizen we believe is a British national.

"I say we’re presuming he’s English although we don’t have documents that prove his nationality status. We’re trying to confirm all the information including his migration status.

"We don’t have any proven information relating to how long he had been in this community."

LADbible previously contacted the UK Foreign Office for comment.