The British businessman being held in Dubai over the disappearance of a former lover has insisted he did not kill her.

Mark Arnold, 42, is being questioned over claims he battered Kerry Winter with a baseball bat before bundling her into a 4x4 and dumping her in the desert with severe head injuries.

But the father of one, who is originally from Stoke-on-Trent said: 'I'm not a killer'.

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Kerry Winter's brother Kurt pictured in Dubai where he is searching for signs of his missing sister

Speaking by telephone from his police cell to Miss Winter's mother Carol, he said he left his ex-girlfriend alive and well on August 20.

Fighting back the tears after police had allowed her to question the suspect from her home in South Africa, Mrs Winter pleaded with Arnold to tell her if he had killed her daughter.

Lia Winter, Kerry's sister-in-law, said: 'All he kept telling her was that he was sorry and things got out of hand.'

Carol said "Mark, please just tell me did you kill her? Where is she?" He just replied "I'm not a killer, I'm not a killer".'

Mark Arnold is being held in Dubai over the disappearance of his former lover Kerry Winter who he is alleged to have battered and dumped in the desert

Mrs Winter, 60, who is on medication after a quadruple heart bypass two years ago, wept as Arnold failed to give more information about her missing daughter.

Miss Winter's family, who live in Johannesburg, claim Arnold had been stalking her since their relationship ended in May.

Lia Winter added: 'The last three months were absolute torture for her - he was stalking her outside her villa, outside her work. He would follow her car.

'We used to talk every day, and she would say to me, "you will not believe it, but he's outside my villa".

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Missing: Miss Winter from South Africa

'She was getting to the point where she was quite scared by the constant hounding.'

Miss Winter was last heard from on the evening of August 20 when she phoned her friend, Jo Brown, to say Arnold had followed her to a hotel.

Friends and family received a number of text messages from her phone over the next few days, which they believe were sent by someone else.

Witnesses told police they saw the 35-year-old being beaten with a baseball bat in the stairwell of her apartment villa in Dubai's Al Barsha suburb.

Two days later Arnold flew to Britain with a new girlfriend, who also works at the interior design firm Hamilton International, where he is an operations manager.

Miss Winter's family claim he has confessed to beating his former lover and abandoning her in the desert, but they say he keeps changing his story.

Police chief Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim told local reporters: 'The man admitted to hitting the woman and not killing her, but our search for her is ongoing.'

No charges have been brought against Arnold, who was arrested by Dubai police on his return from the UK on August 25.

Searches by up to 2,000 volunteers organised by her brother Kurt have failed to find Miss Winter since she went missing on August 20