Essex: Tourist Shot Dead On Holiday

Police in Honduras are looking for a man and a woman suspected of gunning down an Essex tourist in the street as they tried to steal his camera.

Omer Kaya, 33, died after he was shot in the neck yesterday morning while he was on holiday in San Pedro Sula, the Central American country's second city.

The businessman from Leigh-on-Sea in was taking photographs in colonial Trejo, an area in the west of the city, when he was attacked.

Deputy police chief Leonel Sauceda said: "Mr Kaya was walking through colonial Trejo, a residential area outside the city centre, and visibly taking pictures and video with photographic equipment.

"Two people, a man and a woman, who were riding in a taxi, got out and tried to steal his camera. "As they tried to rob him he resisted and then ran away to avoid being the victim of the robbery.

"As he tried to get away he was hit with a shot from .32 calibre bullet which killed him.

"We will do whatever is necessary to find these suspects - our investigation team are going through recent arrests in the area and witness statements.''

Pictures in the local media showed Mr Kaya's barefoot body in white trousers and a dark T-shirt lying behind a police cordon.

His business partner Fatma Oksuzer told the London Evening Standard she was "very shocked" by the news, adding that she was unaware he was in Honduras.

She said: "Omer was a very friendly guy, soft and well-mannered. This is awful."

According to reports, Mr Kaya was the director of a property management company based in Leigh-on-Sea.

The Mail Online said he had been travelling through South and Central America for a month and was due to return to the UK ahead of his birthday on Sunday.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are aware of the death of a British national in Honduras and are providing consular assistance."

Violent crime is rife in Honduras. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the country has seen murder rates double between 2005 and 2010 to the highest murder rate in the world - 82.1 per 100,000 people in 2010.