ANTIGUA suffered a dramatic downturn in tourism after the double murder of Welsh honey- mooners Ben and Catherine Mullany.

ANTIGUA suffered a dramatic downturn in tourism after the double murder of Welsh honey- mooners Ben and Catherine Mullany.The move is part of a programme to repair the tarnished image of the Caribbean island, whose reputation for safety nose-dived after the Mullanys were shot in a bungled robbery on their seaside holiday cottage.
From today, members of the public will be able to submit information to the police via a special phone line or through the new Crimestoppers Antigua website.The Crimestoppers initiative has been spearheaded by the Antigua Hotels and Tourist Association and run by a board of 10 people.The “significant cancellations” of hotel bookings across Antigua and Barbuda from UK tourists since the killings is already estimated to have amounted to well over one million Eastern Caribbean dollars (£220,000).Trainee physiotherapist, Ben, and his new wife Catherine, a doctor, both 31 and from Pontardawe in the Swansea Valley, were fatally shot in the attempted robbery at their seaside cottage on July 27 this year, while on their honeymoon at the island’s Cocos Bay resort.Simon Calder, an experienced travel writer and presenter of BBC’s Travel Show, said the drastic effect on tourism was inevitable.
He said: “This was an appalling crime which has been a dreadful tragedy for the families of these two young people who had just married.“And the consequences financially are going to be very serious for everyone involved in the tourism business in Antigua.“And that means virtually most people on the island.”
The Antigua Sun newspaper is reporting this week that the Crimestoppers initiative is part of a wave of measures, including increased patrols aimed at tackling rising crime on the island and the image problem Antigua has suffered since the Mullanys were killed.Crimestoppers first began in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1976, when a student was shot while working part time at a filling station.Police had no leads so Detective Greg MacAleese approached a local TV station which offered $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of the killers.Within 72 hours, a person called in identifying a car leaving the scene at high speed and he had noted its registration.
Detective MacAleese realised fear and apathy were the primary reasons why people tended “not to get involved” so he helped design Crimestoppers for anonymous tips.
Now there are over 1,200 Crimestoppers programmes in over 17 countries and they have been credited with more than one million solved cases.In the Antigua programme staring today, a reward system is in place where callers can earn up to US $2,000 if the information given results in an arrest.Within the Caribbean, Antigua is the eighth Crimestoppers programme to be established, following Bahamas, Bermuda, Belize, Cayman, Jamaica, Turks and Caicos islands and Trini- dad.A spokesman for the island’s police force said: “Crimestoppers now gives persons with information the opportunity to share this with the police without ever saying who they are.
“The special phone lines are answered overseas to protect the identity of the callers, all information is transmitted via secure software.
“Even though answered overseas, the calls are only charged at the local rate.”
The Mullanys were buried in a private ceremony at the church where they were married this summer, St John the Evangelist in Cilybebyll, near their Pontardawe home.
And later, a memorial service for the pair was attended by almost 1,000 people, including the Duchess of York,at Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff.On Antigua, Keniel Martin, 20, and a youth aged 17 face charges of murdering the couple, robbery and receiving stolen goods.Two women who have been bailed face charges of receiving stolen property and perverting the course of justice.The families of the murdered couple have established a charity fund, the Catherine and Ben Mullany Memorial Fund, to raise money to help would-be medics.

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