Police probing murder of oil executive arrest second man

Rakesh Bhayani, 40, of Chamberlayne Avenue, Wembley, was yesterday being interviewed at a south London police station, Scotland Yard said.

Bhayani, who is unemployed, also faces three charges of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation worth about £280,000, following transactions associated with Ms Waugh’s identity, police said.

Bhayani appeared via video link at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on July 24 and was remanded in custody. He will next appear at Southwark Crown Court on September 25.

Miss Waugh, originally from Durham but living in London, had not been seen by her family since mid-April.

Her body was found with a single stab wound inside a car at the garage in Lime Court, New Malden, south-west London, last Thursday night.

Nicholas David Kutner, 47, of no fixed abode, was bailed to return to a police station on August 25 after being arrested on suspicion of murder and kidnap last Wednesday.

He also faces two charges relating to renting her property at Tressard Court and a fourth of unlawfully withdrawing funds from the 50-year-old’s bank account.

Kutner is being held in custody on the fraud charges ahead of an appearance at Southwark Crown Court on Monday.

Ms Waugh was reported missing by her family on May 7. They last saw her at a family party in mid-April.

She had lived and worked in Libya for a number of years, but returned to London in 2008 and would regularly visit relatives in Durham and Cumbria.

Her former boss, Stuart Anderson, told journalists she had fled Libya after being threatened by someone in Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, but a Scotland Yard spokesman said inquiries are focused in London.

Detectives said she met men through a variety of internet sites, including dating websites, and they were investigating the possibility that she might have been an escort.

So far, a total of 10 people have been arrested in connection with the inquiry into Miss Waugh’s disappearance.

At least three women have tried to pose as her since she vanished, police said.

Her flat is in an affluent part of central London and her brother Chris previously said she was “very frugal and careful” with money.

Mr Waugh added: “What I do know about Sister is that she’d earned what she’d earned and saved what she’d saved.”

Scotland Yard said after her body was found that a post-mortem examination held at
Kingston mortuary found a single stab wound on Ms Waugh’s
body.

Kutner is also facing a fraud charge after being accused of pretending to be Chris Waugh, Ms Waugh’s brother, in a bid to sell her London home.