Gary Nelson, Commissioner of the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda has been fired.

Gary Nelson, Commissioner of the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda, had overseen the hunt for the killers of Benjamin and Catherine Mullany last month. A Canadian, he was appointed in February on a two-year commission to reform the police after a crimewave in which there was a tripling of the number of murders. head of police on a Caribbean island where a British honeymooning couple were murdered has been fired.Mr Nelson's probationary period ended this week and the island's Police Service Commission unanimously decided to end his contract, the Antigua Sun reported. The sacking will raise concerns about attempts to tackle crime on an island visited by an estimated 100,000 British holidaymakers each year. Last year the number of people killed rose to nineteen, compared with an average of six to seven for previous years. So far this year there have been twelve killings and the homicide rate in the former British colony is now ten times that of London. Dr Mullany and her husband, both 31, from Pontardawe, South Wales, were shot last month in a robbery at their hotel on the last day of their honeymoon.
Officers from Scotland Yard and South Wales were asked by Baldwin Spencer, the Prime Minister, to help the investigation. Two men have been charged with murder and robbery and three women with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
The commissioner is the third of four senior Canadian officers to leave in the past two months. Assistant Commissioner Ronald Scott, the head of the Criminal Investigation Department, and Deputy Commissioner Michael O'Neil resigned, citing personal reasons. The only remaining Canadian officer is Deputy Commissioner Thomas Bennett, who holds responsibility for operations in the hard-up force.

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