LAUREN Patterson loved her teaching job in Qatar.
She had a great circle of friends, a group of expats who were also living in Qatar, attracted by the glitter, the tax-free salaries and endless sun.
Lauren Patterson had been living in Qatar for several years working as an English teacher[/caption]
The 24-year-old was killed in October 2013 after a night out[/caption]
Lauren’s mum Alison Patterson wants to warn Brits about ‘expats paradise’ Qatar[/caption]
But after a year or so, 24-year-old Lauren, originally from West Malling, Kent, was beginning to feel misgivings about Qatar.
There seemed to be an undercurrent, a hint of a police state.
She started thinking about leaving but didn’t get the chance.
One night, she went out with a friend to a hotel popular with British expats.
At the end of the evening, Lauren and her friend couldn’t find a taxi, so they accepted a lift with two Qatari men whom the expats knew and were on friendly terms with.
The pair dropped the friend off first. The full details of what happened will – tragically – never be known.
What is known is that Lauren never made it home. Her body was found two days later in the desert. She had been raped and stabbed to death and her body set on fire.
Badr Hashim Khamis Abdallah Al-Jabr, one of the Qatari men who had offered her a lift, was arrested and sentenced to death the following year for her murder, but this was reduced to manslaughter in 2018 and his sentence changed to 10-and-a-half years in prison.
Lauren was killed in October 2013. Her mother, Alison, feels sure he has now been released and is enjoying his freedom.
She is desperate to know. So too are Lauren’s friends, still in Qatar, who are terrified of bumping into him.
But being Qatar, with its secretive ways, Alison, 60, has not been able to find out if her daughter’s killer is now free.
“It’s farcical,” says Alison. “Our lawyer went to the prison to try to find out if he was there.
“He was stopped, they thought he was there to harm him.
“It is quite ridiculous in a way, he’s a very well known lawyer.
“Quite a few of Lauren’s work colleagues are still out in Qatar and want to know for their peace of mind if he has been released.
“The last time I spoke to our lawyer out there he said he would check but nothing came back. That’s what happens every time.”
SECRETIVE QATAR
Lauren’s killer’s accomplice, Muhammad Abdullah Hassan Abdul Aziz was sentenced to just three years for helping to dispose of Lauren’s body.
Today, about 20,000 Brits are living in Qatar.
Lauren’s killer’s accomplice was sentenced to just three years[/caption]
Many Brits are attracted to Qatar by the tax-free salaries and endless sun[/caption]
It’s glitzy and pristine and highly photogenic – an influencer’s dream.
The Corniche is a waterfront promenade that stretches seven kilometres around the crescent-shaped Doha Bay.
There are luxurious hotels such as the Ritz Carlton and Katara Hills, and exclusive private members clubs like The Ned Doha.
Qatar is firmly on the map – the new Dubai.
Expats live in spacious villas in luxurious complexes with pools and tennis courts. Rent is often subsidised by the employer; the expat schools are well regarded.
Job opportunities include positions for teachers, physiotherapists, lab technicians and petroleum engineers. Salaries can be higher, but the real benefit comes from the many employers who give allowances for accommodation and pay for school fees.
As one expat currently living there puts it: “Accommodation isn’t cheap, but lots of expats usually get a housing allowance that goes towards their accommodation.
“A lot of expats will get subsidized membership of a beach club and quite often schools are paid for, too, or at least a chunk of the fees covered.
“European expats with kids really like life in Qatar because they can afford a maid or a nanny.
“And of course petrol is so cheap – around 6p a litre.”
Four or five months before she died, she was looking quite seriously to move jobs to another country. There were things she wasn’t comfortable with
Alison
But under the gloss, there are rules that expats are not so comfortable with.
Alcohol is available only at licensed hotel restaurants, bars and some clubs in this strict Muslim country and it is illegal to drink alcohol or be drunk in a public place.
The introduction of what’s been dubbed a “sin tax” in 2019 saw a big increase in the price of alcohol.
“Restaurants are very expensive, especially ones that serve alcohol,” says the expat.
“Alcohol is very highly taxed at around 150% – whether it’s beer, wines or spirits.”
The expat adds: “In areas like education, there is a creeping growth of conservative Islamic principles.
“Children have to learn Arabic, which is not a bad thing if you are living in an Arab country, but then there are other problems.
“For example, at the beginning of the current school year, there was a massive backlash after parents of children aged six and above were told their children would have to completely cover their arms and legs.
Lauren’s mother Alison feels sure her killer has now been released and is enjoying his freedom[/caption]
“It got to a high level and the British Embassy got involved. Eventually the plans were shelved.
“But for the past two or three years, mothers have not been allowed to watch sons in sports competitions and fathers are not allowed to watch daughters.
“At one elite sporting academy, one swimming coach who works with males and females is not allowed to watch girls he is training when they take part in swimming competitions.”
The resident adds: “A couple of years ago, school libraries at expat schools were closed for three to six months, stopping children from accessing books, while they were censored.
“A parent had complained about a children’s story book.”
Alison, who has two other children and lives with her husband, Kevin, 63, near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, says Lauren had become uneasy about how things were done in Qatar.
She loved teaching, having gained her qualification at The Open University after a spell working as a teaching assistant in Luxembourg. But other aspects bothered her.
“Four or five months before she died, she was looking quite seriously to move jobs to another country.
“She was feeling a little bit apprehensive, there were things she wasn’t comfortable with. The school was good, she really enjoyed that. It was other things.
“For example, she sent me a picture of two young girls at the airports, they were trying to leave but they were taken away by the police. They probably didn’t have the right paperwork. That’s what it was like.
“When my mum became seriously ill and was dying, Lauren wanted to come back to see her but she was denied permission by the authorities to leave. There was a process to go through, and they wouldn’t let her go. They said there wasn’t time to arrange it, it was a petty reason.
“In the end, my mum died, and Lauren was able to get back home for the funeral.”
NEVER CAME BACK
The funeral was held on a Thursday. Lauren flew back to Qatar on the Friday. She’d recently started a new relationship and her boyfriend was due to fly out in a couple of days.
When she arrived back at her apartment, a friend came round and suggested they go out for a few drinks. Lauren left her unpacked suitcase on her bed – ready to unpack when she got home later that evening.
She never came back.
“Lauren didn’t get a chance to text me that she had arrived in Qatar safely and I was immediately concerned when I didn’t hear from her,” says Alison.
“None of her friends had heard from her.
“Her killer worked in security at the airport, he was seen as a man whom you could trust.
“He actually helped search for Lauren with her friends.”
On the Sunday, two falconers who had taken their birds to the desert came across Lauren’s body.
PARENT’S NIGHTMARE
Police secretly staked out and watched Lauren’s killer and his accomplice come to the site to check if they’d covered up Lauren’s body properly. They were immediately arrested.
Alison took the call that is every parent’s nightmare and was asked to bring Lauren’s dental records to Qatar to identify the body.
“Those two knew what they was doing.
“Lauren lived six minutes away, the other girl lived 15 minutes away, but they took the other girl home first
“He said all sorts of things. He said Lauren attacked him, then he said Lauren fell on the knife.”
In 2019, six years after Lauren’s death, another expat, Marc Bennett, died in disturbing circumstances.
Twelve years after Lauren’s killing, Alison knows she will never have all the answers to questions about her daughter’s death[/caption]
On December 24, he was found hanging in a hotel room. The police reportedly said it was suicide; his family back in Britain were adamant he would never have killed himself, and there was no note.
In 2017, Marc had been appointed senior vice-president at Discover Qatar, with the role of developing tourism at the 2022 World Cup.
After he resigned, he was reportedly arrested and held in a secret detention centre, where he told family he was physically and mentally tortured and told he could not leave the country.
Qatar Airways reportedly responded by saying Mr Bennett had emailed “highly confidential documents relating to Qatar Airways to a private email address” and was consequently arrested and the case became a “police matter”.
There remain many unanswered questions.
Meanwhile, twelve years after Lauren’s killing, Alison knows she will never have all the answers to questions about her daughter’s death.
She does want to know, though, if her killer is free.
“We have written personally to the Emir but never had a reply. We gave letters to the Qatari embassy but heard nothing.
“You don’t move on, but you’re putting a line under one part of it, you’re coming to terms with he’s out,” she says.
