People in a Ghanaian coastal village have told how police apprehended a British man suspected of killing the former EastEnders actor Sian Blake. He was arrested while drinking from a coconut and holding a knife in an isolated cove, say witnesses, after his picture was circulated online.
Arthur Simpson-Kent could appear in front of a judge in Accra on Monday after being arrested in the resort of Busua, a five-hour drive from the capital. He can only be held for 48 hours before he must either appear before a court or be released, according to local laws.
The Metropolitan police said an application for extradition would be made by officers and partner agencies but a spokesman would not give a timeline “due to ongoing legal proceedings in both Ghana and the UK”.
Rumours had been spreading around the village that Simpson-Kent was in the resort since his photograph had begun to spread on social media. Several people reported his presence to police. A fisherman in a remote beauty spot is alleged to have spotted him swimming in the sea and alerted the authorities to his location.
“He was standing there, drinking coconut water, and the police tell him, ‘Hands up and kneel down’. He was holding a knife. He put his bag down, then he put his knife down, and they arrested him,” a witness, John Otoo, told the BBC.
Simpson-Kent had reportedly been staying at the Arena Beach lodge in Busua, checking in for seven nights. “He never said anything to anyone. He was just living the normal tourist life,” the owner told the Sun.
British cafe owner Karole Ainoo, who moved to the resort from Halifax with her husband, said Simpson-Kent had frequently visited her cafe and had spent New Years’ Eve dancing at Busua’s Rainbow hotel. She realised who he was after receiving a WhatsApp message from a British friend.
“I had seen my phone flashing around 1am and was shocked out of my mind when I realised the picture was him,” Ainoo told the Mail. “I woke my husband up and we agreed we must go to the police.” Police are likely to make a judicial application this week to remand Simpson-Kent in custody until official extradition proceedings are requested by UK police.
Simpson-Kent was “smoked from a thicket … where he was hiding”, said Prosper Agblor, director general of Ghana’s CID. “He was armed with a knife. He was disarmed and arrested.”
Police paraded a cuffed Simpson-Kent, still wearing beach sandals, through a police complex in front of the media, where he was seated next to a metal tea-making urn as cameras snapped. He did not respond to any questions asked by reporters. He is understood to have arrived in the country via a KLM flight on 19 December.
Agblor said Simpson-Kent had written 7 December on his disembarkation form as the day he entered the country, a date before the disappearance of Blake and the couple’s two children, Zachary, eight, and Amon, four.
Blake and her sons were last seen on 13 December; their bodies were discovered three weeks later in the garden of their home in Erith, Kent. Initial postmortem examinations show they died from head and neck injuries.
During the hunt for Blake and her children, officers admitted they had not seen or heard from Simpson-Kent since speaking to him on 16 December about his missing family. The case has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) for investigation.
At a news conference in Accra on Sunday, DCI Graeme Gwyn, of the Met’s homicide and major crime command, praised the Ghanaian authorities and said there had been no undue delay in apprehending Simpson-Kent.
“There is nothing we or the Ghanaians could have done any quicker to get out here as quickly as we could,” he said. “The work they have done has been outstanding and I am truly, truly grateful. I cannot thank them enough for what they have done.
“Our thoughts continue to and always do remain with Sian’s family and the boys. This is why we are here, this is why we do what we do, and we are here to get justice for them.”
