Coroner gives open verdict on Briton`s death

London, Nov 14 (PTI) An inquest into the death of Briton, Stephen Bennett, in December 2007 in India has given an open verdict with the coroner of Gloucester stating that the evidence was 'full of holes'.

Bennett, 40, disappeared four days after arriving in Goa and was found hanging in the village of Malsai near Roha in Maharashtra. Carol and Maureen Bennett, his parents, believe he was murdered.

Alan Crickmore, the coroner, said: "It seems to me, to be
clear that when Mr Bennett was found hanged one possible
explanation . . . is that he hanged himself. However, it is
equally the case that, on the pathological evidence, I cannot
exclude the possibility that he was killed.".

Carol Bennett said: "I am disappointed and was hoping for
a verdict of unlawful killing."

Bennett's sister, Amanda, had earlier claimed that
gangsters were responsible for his death as a warning to two
other men, who allegedly owed a drugs debt of more than 40,000
pounds.

Before he was discovered on December 11 2006, the former
actor from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, phoned his family to
say he was worried about his safety.

The inquest was told that the local police first thought
Bennett's death was suicide as he had left his wallet behind
with 300 pounds inside. His family told officers they would
not accept that.

Later investigators claimed that Bennett was murdered, at
one point reportedly working on a theory that hysterical
villagers had killed him after a woman feared a sexual advance
from him. PTI