THE FAMILY of a former Lower Earley care worker who was murdered with a cutlass on the Caribbean island of Dominica have paid tribute to a “loving step-mother”.

Rose Wyatt’s body was found by her husband after she failed to return from walking their dog along a stretch of tropical beach close to their home in the town of Calibishie.

Speaking to the Chronicle from England, the 51-year-old’s step-son Mark Wyatt-Knott – who used to live with the family in Sawtry Close, Lower Earley – has spoken of the shock when they heard what had happened.

He said: “She was always lovely, she never said a bad word about anyone and was just a loving person. She always listened to everyone she met and made my dad very happy. It just doesn’t seem real right now.”

Brazilian-born Rose and Mark’s father Gary had relocated to Dominica last year, after getting married in Reading in 2014.

On January 17 her husband found her body a short walk away from their beachside home after she had gone missing earlier in the day.

Mark, 26, said: “She went out to walk their dog to the beach and took a path that is not frequently used.

“When my father came back from running some errands and realised she wasn’t there he tried ringing her but got no answer so he went off looking for her.

“By then it was pitch black and he went down to the beach following the route she said she was going to take.

“He heard their dog barking off in the distance and stumbled across her body at the bottom of the path.

“She had been killed by a person using some kind of machete.”

Local media reports state that a teenager had been arrested on suspicion of murder and was being quizzed by officers.

The Dominica Police Department confirmed that a 17-year-old, who could not be named for legal reasons, was arrested and charged with Rose’s murder and remains in custody. He will appear at a preliminary hearing at the main courthouse in the island’s second largest city Portsmouth on April 15.

Gary’s 23-year-old son James has already flown out to the island to help with funeral arrangements and it is planned that Rose’s ashes will be brought back to the UK to allow friends and family here to pay their respects and say their final goodbyes.

Mr Valerie, head of criminal investigations at the police department, said: “Initially it was said there was a rape but there was no evidence. The doctor on the scene found no evidence to suggest sexual trauma. There was a weapon involved and it was recovered by the police from the accused, it was a cutlass.”