UK woman shot dead on Antigua honeymoon

A newly wed doctor was killed and her husband is in critical condition after being shot during their honeymoon on the Caribbean island of Antigua, the Foreign Office said on Monday.

The couple are believed to have been fired at by intruders during a botched robbery in their cottage at a hotel during the early hours of Sunday.

Catherine Mullany, nee Bowen, a doctor from the Pontardawe area of south Wales, was killed at the scene. Her husband, Benjamin, is fighting for his life in intensive care.

The Foreign Office said their families had been informed, and that Antiguan police had launched an investigation.

Paul Williams, chief executive of the university trust in south Wales where Catherine Mullany was training as a GP, said it was devastated by the death of the "popular, talented and caring young doctor".

Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University NHS Trust (ABM) Paediatric Consultant and Clinical Director Mike Cosgrove added: "We were expecting Catherine back from her honeymoon today and instead we heard this terrible news."

The couple, both reported to be 31, were staying at Cocos Hotel near Valley Church in the south west of the island after marrying on July 12.

Local police were reported in the media as saying several shots were fired when an intruder or intruders appear to have broken into the cottage at about 5 a.m. and confronted the couple.

Antigua's opposition deputy leader Gaston Browne said the shooting had been "an attack on our livelihood".

He told Sky News television that the island depended on tourism and criticised the government for not prioritising the fight against gun crime.

Antiguan Minister of Tourism Harold Lovell said the shooting was a "matter of grave concern for us", but described it as an isolated incident.

"I really on behalf of the government wish to express our deepest sympathy and concern for the families of Catherine Bowen, the deceased, and her husband," he told Sky News.

"Antigua and Barbuda is terribly shocked at what has happened.

"This incident was an isolated incident."