Motive for Caribbean yacht murders baffles police

on a luxury yacht in the Caribbean, with police casting doubt on links

with drug-smuggling or piracy.

Local police, assisted by three Scotland Yard detectives, still do not

know why the victims were trussed, gagged with masking tape, and

repeatedly stabbed in the face, head, and neck.

Early theories that pirates may have been responsible later gave way

to speculation that the murders might be drugs related.

However, as post-mortem examinations of the bodies continued tonight,

there was still no firm evidence to explain the motive.

The killings have shocked the population of sleepy Antigua and

Barbuda, where murders are almost unknown and serious crime is rare.

Foreign holidaymakers on another yacht discovered the bodies below

deck on the Computacenter Challenger on Saturday.

The victims were computer company executive John Cleaver, 58, and his

52-year-old wife Patty, who lived on Jersey; and crewmen Ian Cridland,

35, and Thomas Williams, 22, both from the Southampton area.

The holidaymakers became suspicious after seeing no sign of life

aboard the yacht for two days after it moored off Barbuda, 15 miles from

Antigua.

The 65ft luxury yacht, a Swan ketch, belonged to Peter Ogden and

Philip Hulme, chairman and managing director of British micro-computer

dealers Computacenter Ltd., based in central London.

Mr Cleaver, originally from California, lived and worked in Jersey

where he administered property owned by the company and used for

meetings.

He and his wife were taking the yacht on holiday when they were

murdered. The yacht, permanently crewed by Mr Cridland and Mr Williams,

was used both for corporate hospitality and the enjoyment of company

employees.

Company spokesman Martin Hellawell today said that staff were in a

state of shock.

He said Mr Cleaver had worked at Computacenter for about two years and

described him as a ''charismatic person'' who was ''very much loved''.

The dead crewmen had been employed sailing the yacht for about 18

months.

Earlier, Antigua's deputy police commissioner Alvin Goodwin discounted

the piracy theory. ''We don't have any piracy in our waters,'' he said.

But he added that police were considering a drugs connection.

The Caribbean is conveniently placed for drug traffickers between

South and North America and Europe. It has emerged as an increasingly

important supplier of cocaine.

However, Mr Goodwin denied that Antigua and Barbuda were staging posts

for traffickers smuggling cocaine to the United States.

''That's not true. We've made a couple of busts across the area, but

there's no large-scale drug trafficking here. It's a bit of a mystery.''

Scotland Yard said the three Metropolitan Police detectives assisting

the inquiry had already been on Antigua. They were sent to the island

for court proceedings connected with two other murders.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: ''The murder rate in Antigua is

virtually negligible and the inhabitants of the islands are naturally

shocked at a crime of this magnitude.

''Investigations into the murders continue.''

Mr Cridland's 76-year-old mother, Joan, who lives in a rest home in

Netley Abbey, Hampshire, was too upset to talk today.

She was quoted in London's Evening Standard as saying the sea had been

her son's life.

Mrs Cridland added: ''Ian was a brave lad and I have no doubt he would

have defended the boat with his life.''

She said her son's girlfriend of 10 years was ''devastated''.