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Britt Lapthorne: A Body Is Found
Croatian police say a body has this afternoon been found on a beach in central Dubrovnik, the city where missing Melbourne backpacker Britt Lapthorne was last seen, says one of Britt’s friends in an email to Anorak.
Britt….pic ABC
The 21-year-old Australian went missing two weeks ago after going out to a Dubrovnik nightclub with friends.
On site Australian reporters say five police boats were off the coast where the body was found, according to Australia’s ABC News.
A local film crew was told the body was “unrecognisable”, and Britt’s father Dale, who is in Croatia to search for his daughter, was “devastated” when he heard a body had been found.
Ms Lapthorne was last seen at a nightclub in the seaside village in the early hours of September 18.
Earlier her boyfriend, Simon Imberger, rejected Croatian newspaper reports Britt was promiscuous and a known drunk before she disappeared in Dubrovnik.
The search story and her family pleas for help have not appeared in any UK National…despite the fact thousands of Australian backpackers are travelling in Britain.
- AGW
Bob Spinks On The Britt Lapthorne Case
How The Media Treats Australian Backpacker Britt Lapthorne
Posted: 6th, October 2008 | In: Tabloids, Twitterings | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Comments
October 6th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
The irony will be , it will be a UK resident?
Whoever it is - a tragedy
October 6th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
To be fair - how many people go missing in the world - could the Brit press cover every story?
Having said that - she is a blonde…
October 6th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Blonde isn’t the issue. Initial failure to appreciate the situation by police (sound familiar?) was interesting in itself… and the Croatian effort to keep it’s fragile tourist industry intact by suppression of information coupled with the lack of a proper search for a missing 21-year-old traveller IS news.
The 15,600 Facebook entries also make it a new type of news story worth more than a casual glance. Friends and family forcing the Australian Government to DO something and send a liaison police officer to the scene.
Many of the world’s youngsters want to know the truth of the Bosnian horror and visiting the area is the way to find out.
The most chilling statement I’ve read in years was issued by the Deputy Head of police in Dubrovnik today.
Ivan Kukrika said of the badly decomposed body found today: “It is probably not her.”
In the most matter of fact way possible he explained why; he said many bodies were washed up from nearby Albania.
By very glad you can sit at the keyboard and the rain doesn’t come in.
But you are right…she is blonde.
October 6th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
And of course how many UK brunettes going missing in Oz? or nearby countries?
October 6th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
It still bothers me the haste by someone to cast aspersions on her good name …
October 7th, 2008 at 1:47 am
agw
I was in satire mode… sorry….
It’s true, newspapers ignore lots of interesting stories. There are huge murder stories in Scotland that rumble on for months and are lucky to get half a paragraph in the English editions of the newspapers and almost never get on the national news on T.V.
October 7th, 2008 at 1:52 am
Being a new mum who has had some crazy and amazing backpacker experiences in my past, I can only feel a deep sympathy for this young girl simply trying to see the world and for her family & friends who must be expecting the worst and probably now hoping only to find her body so that they can have some closure.
I am deeply disturbed to have read that the son of the hostel owners where Britt was staying has gone on Croatian media record saying that she was promiscuous and a drunk. Firstlty, he is talking about someone missing and very possibly not alive..secondly - so what? is that relevant? does that mean she “asked” for something to happen. Moron.
October 8th, 2008 at 12:53 am
agw
Sorry again
- it’s been so long since they dug up his old house I forgot there hadn’t been a trial yet.
And another sorry…
October 8th, 2008 at 12:55 am
agw
And it’s contempt of court… I really should pay attention….
October 8th, 2008 at 1:38 am
Britt may have been missing longer than is reported too. If someone was trying to post her passport they must have known she had gone! Tragic for the family. Not much news around about this girl though, strangely.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:59 am
mods
You had to edit me twice!!!
And I really was trying not to be contemptuous!!!
(Lord, I hope I haven’t done it again…
).
October 9th, 2008 at 4:34 am
Fancy having to wait 10 days before results are know. That would be enough to send anyone around the bend so to speak. With the advances in science surely DNA testing could be made more streamlined. The fact that a body was found in the area, and they don’t know what gender it is, it awful.
October 11th, 2008 at 2:11 am
I am not implying that the Lapthorne family’s despair and heartache isn’t genuine, but god they are a bunch of whingers. No publicity - boo hoo. No Australian government support - get a hold of yourselves - your kid went missing in CROATIA. Not AUSTRALIA. You’re lucky they even sent someone to that east european country to hold your hand. I mean, how much can a Australian policeman do for you in another country - where he has no jurisdiction or authority? Most countries wouldn’t give a clusterf*** about your kid going missing. All I hear is whinging and blaming the Australian government - how ungrateful. Thankfully this episode is nearing its conclusion.
That said, the handling by the Croat authorities has been abysmal. The whole affair has been one bungle after another.