Interpol hunt for killer

Police were today scouring Europe for the boyfriend of a pregnant woman murdered days after telling officers she feared for her life.

Hayley Richards, 23, told police her partner, Portuguese factory worker Hugo Quintas, had tried to kill her but he was not arrested because no interpreter could be found. Six days later Miss Richards was found dead in her flat.

Police fear Quintas, 23, may have fled to his home country and have called in Interpol and the Portuguese authorities.

Miss Richards's brother Paul said: "We are in a deep state of shock. We were informed that an arrest was imminent but that an interpreter would have to be present. A week later

we find ourselves devastated with the loss of Hayley." Miss Richards, from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, was three months pregnant but it is not yet known if Quintas, who had been in the country for more than a year, was the baby's father.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has started an inquiry into the handling of Miss Richards's allegation that Quintas tried to strangle her.