A businesswoman who was on the run after it was alleged she killed two girls has been pulled from the River Thames.
On Tuesday morning Zulma Guzman Castro was found alive but injured in the river next to Battersea Bridge. Emergency services thought she was drowning and pulled the woman from the water.
It has been claimed Ms Castro, who appeared on Shark Tank, the Colombian version of Dragons' Den, killed two teenage girls in Colombia with poisoned raspberries. Ines de Bedout, 14, and her friend Emilia Forero, 13, died in April days after eating the fruit which was poisoned with thallium, a colourless metal.
Ms Castro is accused of the killings in an act of vengeance after an alleged affair with Juan de Bedout, the father of one of the victims.
Ms Castro denies the crime.
Another teenager who ate the poisoned berries as well as a 21-year-old brother of one of the victims were taken to hospital. They survived but the girl is thought to have longterm health problems.
A Met Police spokesperson told LBC: “Police were called at 06:45hrs on Tuesday, 16 December to reports of a woman in distress on Battersea Bridge.
“The Met’s Marine Policing Unit recovered a woman in her 50s from the water at 07.14hrs and she was taken to hospital, where her injuries have since been deemed not life-threatening or life-changing.”
An international search warrant was issued by Interpol Red Notice that Ms Castro could be in Spain, Brazil or the UK since leaving Colombia.
She reportedly gave away her location that she was in the UK after being spotted drinking Buxton water during a TV interview.
The accused killer was spotted drinking from the British water brand during an exclusive interview with Colombian channel Focus Noticias, the Sun reported.
A source told the newspaper: “The bottle of water she drank from was Buxton Natural Mineral Water, a product mainly commercialised in the UK.
“The size of the bottle she was drinking are sold in street shops, which would indicate Guzman is in an apartment or house and not in a hotel.”
The Daily Mail said an arrest warrant for the woman was issued by Westminster Magistrates' Court earlier this week and she will be taken to custody to appear in court when she is well enough.
The girls father Pedro Forero said after the deaths, according to the Mail: “Fourteen years ago, a life of hopes, joys and dreams began; a life that filled a family, a father and a mother.
“But it wasn't just the joy of someone else's life; it was the beginning of the life of an excellent human being who had dreams, hopes and goals.
“As a father, it is incomprehensible to think that someone was capable of taking this away.”
