Cops rushing to judgement over Terry says J-FLAG

Jamaica's umbrella gay rights group has criticised local police for what it believes is an imprudently quick rejection of a crime-of-passion motive for last week's killing of British honorary consul, John Terry.

"We are concerned that the police have hastily ruled it out as an attack against a homosexual," Jason McFarlane, programmes director for the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG) told The Gleaner yesterday.

Questions have swirled in British media that Terry, 65, was a homosexual who was probably killed by a lover.

But Karl Angell, the communications point man for the police force, has denied the claim.

"A homophobic attack on John Terry has been widely reported especially in the United Kingdom media. However, this is not consistent with the facts identified by investigators at this time and as such media reporting along this line may well mislead the public and (affect) the assistance required from them by the investigators," the statement read.

Terry's body was discovered by his gardener at his home in Mount Carey, St James, last Wednesday. On Thursday, police said a post-mortem revealed strangulation was the cause of death. The following day, the police released a composite sketch of a suspect. There have been no arrests.