British backpacker shot five times in 'mystery' drive-by shooting in Argentina

Police said Harry Christopher, 28, was shot five times in the back as he walked to his Buenos Aires hotel on Friday.

Officers are now investigating whether his murder was the result of a bungled robbery or if he was killed as part of a drugs gangland hit.

Mr Christopher, who said he was from Belfast but is from Luton, had been in the South American country for a month and had an Argentine girlfriend.

He was carrying a backpack containing his laptop computer and a mobile phone when he was shot near his hotel in the Moron area.

But these items were left at the scene leading police to believe robbery was less of a motive.

One witness told police the killers drove up to Mr Christopher on a Gilera 125 moped and tried to grab his backpack but he fought back and began to run off with it.

Detectives found 'elements for cutting up drugs and various knives' in his hotel room and his girlfriend told police he was 'involved in drugs' and had recently been scared by some people from the drugs scene.

A police source said: 'We are checking the veracity of many of the facts obtained as everything is very confusing.'

Police are treating the crime as an 'attempted robbery and homicide'.

The Argentine authorities have previously been accusing of using the drugs trade to cover up the murder of a British backpacker in Buenos Aires.

Laura Hill, a 25-year-old dental nurse, was found dead outside her apartment in the city last October.

Argentina's Justice and Security Minister Anibal Fernandez claimed she was part of a drugs trafficking gang and died from a overdose.

But her parents, Kevin and Alison Hill, from Eastbourne, believe she was sexually assaulted and then murdered.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said Mr Christopher's had been informed and consular assistance was being provided.