Man held after Briton is killed in Dordogne

An English labourer was being held by police today after the murder of a British millionaire in the Dordogne.

The body of Peter Fuller, 67, was found on Saturday morning by his ex-wife in the home where he lived alone in south-west France. He had been beaten around the head many times with a "blunt object".

The suspected attacker, a 30-year-old man who has not been named, was arrested later that day after an all-ports alert issued by French police. He is believed to have flown back to a London airport. The man had moved to Mr Fuller's home to work as an odd job man three weeks ago.

"The suspect had clearly fled the scene of the crime," said a detective in the isolated hamlet of Huis Renaud, near Perigueux, where Mr Fuller lived. The man is expected to be extradited to France for questioning.

Mr Fuller, who originally came from Chatham, was a well-known figure in the Dordogne.

He had been divorced for a number of years since quitting his job as an engineer in the petroleum industry.

In 2003 he registered Les Mirandes Golf and Country Club as a French company, pledging to turn it into one of the best courses in the country. The course, which cost more than £1.5 million, was based on all the best holes Mr Fuller had played around the world.

Some 20,000 Britons live permanently in the Dordogne