Smash hit

Mrs MacKeown has also voiced fears for her family’s safety, alleging that Scarlett’s death is linked to the activities of local drug runners.

Ms MacKeown was on a six-month holiday with her boyfriend, Scarlett and six other children in India when her daughter was attacked. The group had flown from Britain in November.

The rest of the family were travelling in a nearby state and Scarlett had stayed with a tour guide in Anjuna when she was last seen at a bar in the popular resort.

Ms MacKeown managed to find clothing from her daughter on the beach and had also taken witness statements in an attempt to find out what happened.

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The deaths of two British holidaymakers in Goa is unlikely to deter the 230,000 package holidaymakers who will go this year

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“It was our main objective to get the police or somebody to admit that she’d been murdered as I knew in my heart that she had been,” Ms MacKeown said.

“I am convinced that they (the Indian police) were covering it up.

“She was a lovely girl, a really affectionate, loving girl.”

She said she would now fly her daughter’s body home for a funeral and then return to Goa to keep pressuring the police in their investigation.

Goa is extremely popular with Western tourists but in the last few years there have been problems with tourists dying from drug overdoses and women especially being attacked and sexually assaulted.

Under the Indian legal system D’Souza will have to appear in court in connection with the case within 24 hours. He will make an appearance at a magistrates court in Mapusa tomorrow, Mr Kumar said.

The first autopsy, carried out under police auspices, found only five bruises on the teenager’s body.

By contrast, the report released yesterday by three Goan state pathologists after the second post mortem examination said that 50 wounds were found on Scarlett’s body - 22 of them inflicted before her death. Injuries included cuts, abrasions and deep bruising on areas including her face, torso and genitalia.

Vikram Varma, Ms MacKeown’s lawyer, said: “When a 15-year-old girl is found with her panties and shorts pulled down by the sea and covered with bruises... there is a possibility of sex assault.”

Scarlett’s death has shone a light on the darker side of Goa, which attracts about 500,000 tourists a year. The state, on India’s western coast, is renowned for its beautiful, uncrowded beaches and has become easily accessible via low-cost air travel. In recent years, however, it has also become notorious for drug-fueled beach-front raves and for its chaotic local government.

In recent years fears for the safety of foreigners, especially for women, have escalated. In the last two years, more than 126 foreign tourists have died in Goa – 12 in the first two months of this year alone.

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