The Tribune

By Rashad Rolle

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

POLICE are not investigating the mysterious death of a British national as a homicide, according to Assistant Superintendent of Police Shanta Knowles.

The lifeless body of Dannie Lea was found on a lawn of a Port New Providence home on May 19 but the cause of his death has been a mystery. Although ASP Knowles said the Royal Bahamas Police Force has received the results of an autopsy performed on the body, she did not divulge details except to say the matter is not being treated as a homicide. 

Lea was found sometime before 5pm by a security guard who had called the relatives of the homeowner to notify them the front door was ajar. The owners were reportedly out of town. When the relative came to check the home, along with the guard, Lea was discovered barefoot wearing only blue pants.

The 29-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent was said to be a father-of-one, a personal trainer and an oil remediation engineer.

Mr Lea’s death was widely reported by the British media as a murder with many newspapers claiming he had been “beaten to death”.

Early reports on social media in the Bahamas had claimed he suffered head injuries but from the outset the police refused to say what the cause of death was until an autopsy had been carried out. The length of time it took for this to be completed before yesterday’s statement was issued allowed the ‘beaten to death’ theory to spread.

As news of Lea’s death spread, tributes poured in online.

One person wrote on Facebook: “RIP Dannie I still don’t believe (you’re) gone, my thoughts are (with) your family and your lil’ lad taken too soon.”

Another person wrote: “RIP Danny heartbroken seen you grow from the cheeky lad (you) were to the good man you became. All our love Dan, in our hearts forever.”