‘ISIS-linked crooks beat British couple to death and fed their bodies to crocodiles in South Africa’

A British couple were beaten to death and their bodies thrown to crocodiles by a trio with alleged links to ISIS who then went on a ?37,000 spending spree with their credit cards, a court heard.

World-renowned botanists Rod Saunders, 74, and wife Rachel, 63, were pounced upon as ‘a good hunt’ as they scoured a mountain region in South Africa for rare seeds for their business.

In a resumed High Court trial in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal province, Sayfudeen Aslam Del Vecchio, 41, his wife Bibi Fatima Patel, 30, and Malawian Mussa Ahmed Jackson, 35, were accused of their brutal robbery and murder.

They are said to have put their bodies in their sleeping bags and driven them to a bridge over a crocodile-infested river and thrown them off it then used their credit cards at ATM’s and in a series of shops.

Their bodies were recovered days later but it was months before they were identifed by DNA tests and post mortems were carried out on both badly decomposed bodies to try and establish cause of death.

A doctor told the court that examination of the bodies showed evidence of ‘scavenger activity’ adding: ‘The damage to the bodies suggest that something could have fed on them.

‘For example a crocodile due to the lost tissue on the arms, neck and chest. Once the bodies were pushed into the banks then dogs and rats could have fed on it’.

It was said they died of blunt trauma injury.

Microbiologist Dr Rachel Saunders and horticulturist Rodney who were married for 30 years spent six months a year in remote South African mountains searching for rare Gladioli plant seeds.

They sold them world-wide from their mail order business Silverhill Seeds in Cape Town and travelled the globe lecturing on them but were pounced upon during a fateful trip to a remote forest.

The Saunders left their home in Cape Town on February 4, 2018, to meet a BBC TV documentary film crew 900 miles up country in the Drakensberg Mountains to film an episode for Gardeners World.

They were interviewed by presenter Nick Bailey as they searched for rare Gladioli seeds and a selfie taken by Mr Bailey and posted on his Twitter account and a photo taken by producer Robin Matthews were the last snaps of them alive.

After filming they left the BBC team and headed for the Ngoye Forest where they were targeted by the gang and it is alleged they were followed and ambushed then kidnapped and brutally murdered.

The trio who are said to have links to ISIS are alleged to have targeted and beaten the couple to death with a blunt instrument then put them in their sleeping bags and thrown them off a bridge to crocodiles below.

Their badly decomposed and eaten bodies were found in the River Tugela in the Ngoye Forest near Eshowe but could not be identified and were taken to local mortuaries where they were stored.

A full scale police search was already on for the couple after all contact was lost with them and it was only months later when DNA tests were ordered on all unclaimed bodies in morgues that they were found.

They were last in contact with an employee on February 8, 2018, and said they were heading for the Ngoye Forest 90 miles north of Durban but were not heard of again and the alarm was raised two days later.

The court was told:’Around February 10 the investigating officer received information that Rodney Saunders and his wife Dr Rachel Saunders had been kidnapped in the KwaZulu-Natal region.

‘It was established on February 13 that the defendants were drawing money from ATM’s which amounted to theft of R734,000 (?37,000) and there was the robbery of their Toyota Land Cruiser and camping gear.

‘It is alleged that between February 10 and 15 at the Ngoye Forest the accused did unlawfully and intentionally kill Rachel Saunders and between the same dates did unlawfully and intentionally kill Rodney Saunders’.

The elite Hawks police squad had found a link between the cell phones belonging to Mr and Mrs Saunders and the cell phones of the suspects and arrested the three accused and charged them with murder.

They also found ISIS pamphlets and flags at their home and messages on their phones discussing ‘killing the kuffar’ and saying there is a couple in the forest who would make a ‘good hunt’.

The court heard: ‘On March 23 the third accused Jackson was arrested and he made a statement to the effect he was woken by Patel at their home on February 10 and told to meet Del Vecchio on the road.

‘Del Vecchio was in the Land Cruiser and Patel and Jackson followed to the Tugela River Bridge where they helped him remove the sleeping bags from the back and threw them with human bodies inside into the river’.

The victim’s Land Cruiser was recovered on February 19 with large amounts of blood inside.

South African born Rachel received British citizenship when she married British born Rod and the pair travelled the world giving lectures on their passion on the Gladioli of South Africa.

In 1995 Rod quit his job as nursery manager at the world famous Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and leading university microbiologist Rachel quit hers and they set up Silverhill Seeds.

It was a successful business working from home employing staff to sell their seeds around the world and the couple spent six months a year camping in the wilds gathering stock to sell by mail order.

Married couple Del Vecchio and Patel and their lodger Jackson deny kidnap, murder, robbery and theft at Durban High Court.

The trial continues.