A queer woman, who was a mother of three from London, has died after being set on fire by an intruder while visiting family in Barbados on July 28.
Barbados news site Stabroek News reported that the intruder who attacked Natalie Crichlow, 44, choked her, “doused her with a flammable substance and then set the house on fire.”
Crichlow was rescued from the burning building by men in the neighbourhood, but she had suffered 75 percent burns and passed away in hospital nine days later (August 6).
Her niece Ashley Best told the Press Association (PA) that her aunt had survived cancer twice and had suffered two strokes in the last ten years. She was visiting her brother in Barbados.
Natalie Crichlow’s family are in a “state of shock”
Best said: “I do not understand why it happened and we are all in a state of shock.
“She went into hospital and died of her injuries. For someone who had battled through so much to just be taken in this way and lose their life is just beyond understanding.
“She said she wanted to live life to the fullest because her life had nearly been taken from her.”
The family have started a GoFundMe page to raise the £8,000 to bring her body back home.
The crowding page says: “Natalie left behind her eldest daughter and two sons who desperately want to bring her home to say goodbye and lay her to rest peacefully.
“The outgoing, bubbly and kind Natalie was greatly loved and well thought of throughout many communities, all of which this loss has come as a massive shock to.”
The page has already raised more than £13,000.
A Foreign Office spokesperson told PA: “Our staff are supporting the family of a British woman following her death in Barbados, and are in contact with the Barbados police force.”
A spokesperson for the Royal Barbados police force also told PA that no arrests had been made.