Early on Tuesday morning, Faro Police asked the GNR to break into a cottage in a settlement near Alcoutim where they found the body of a British man in his late 50s lying in a pool of blood caused by one or more spear wounds to his abdomen.
The PSP had stopped a car in Faro and found the driver, Eugénio Reicha, had no license, that he had ‘borrowed’ the vehicle and that he tested as criminally drunk.
When questioned about the car’s owner, which had not been registered as stolen, the young man replied that it was owned by British resident Simon Carley-Pocock in the Pereiro area of Alcoutim and that he had speared him and most likely killed him.
As the Audi convertible was way above his pay grade and there were 'items of value' on board, the police decided to check out the implausible story.
The PSP contacted the GNR in Alcoutim and officers went to the property where they forced the door and found a corpse lying in a pool of blood.
It is not yet know on what day the murder occurred but sometime between Friday and Saturday night is the most likely.
The president of Alcoutim and Pereiro parishes, Joao Carlos Simões, said that the community is "completely surprised" by the murder as it is normally such a quiet area.
Eugénio Reicha, 20, has confessed to the violent attack on Carley-Pocock and is being held in Faro while the case is being investigated by the Judicial Police.
The dead man was known to be HIV positive and had been living in the area for around 15 years. The men are said locally to have known each other and had been partners.
