'Hero' Briton stabbed to death in New Zealand stopping intruder from entering woman's room

A Briton stabbed to death in New Zealand was killed after preventing an intruder going into a woman's room, his family have revealed.

David Roberts, 43, refused to give the knifeman the keys to the flat at the apartment block in central Auckland where he worked as building manager.

Mr Roberts was killed alongside an Indonesian man. Their bodies were found in a ground floor flat after an Iraqi man gave himself up to police.

lbaseem Ridha Kadhim Abbad Almery, 30, had been holding his knife to his own throat during a stand-off which lasted more than two hours.

Mr Roberts' shocked family in Caernarfon, north Wales, last night hailed him a hero.

Brother-in-law Ronald Morgan said: 'This man wanted the keys to the apartments. He couldn't get access to the flat of a female. Of course, David refused, a struggle ensued and this happened.

'We'd like to think he died being a hero. If anybody tried to prevent somebody being hurt, he would. He was one in a million.'

He added: 'We heard it took police three hours to take this guy down from the balcony after the attack... To find out it was a knife attack was very difficult.'

His wife Karen, Mr Roberts' sister, said: 'He was a lovely man. He wouldn't have hurt a fly. He was a fantastic guy - a very, very proud Welshman.

Under arrest: lbaseem Ridha Kadhim Abbad Almery, who has been charged with the double murder and burglary, is escorted to a waiting police car

Double murder: Police remove a body from the block of flats in Auckland where Mr Roberts was murdered

'I had to break the news to my dad. I lost my mum two years ago and eight years ago my brother Mark died of cancer.

'Although he was on the other side of the world, David really helped me and was a great support.

'We hadn't been there to see him. We were hoping to go. It would have been a nice holiday for us all.

'He was thinking of coming here next year. I hadn't seen him for two years since my mum's funeral.'

Mr Roberts, who was not married, trained as an engineer before working all over the world as a computer chip designer and then moving to New Zealand three years ago.

His body will now be flown back to Britain for a family funeral.

Police charged Almery with burglary and two counts of murder after the incident on Saturday morning.

He appeared before Auckland District Court on Monday and was remanded in custody to re-appear again on August 18.

Heartbroken: Mr Roberts' sister Karen (middle), with her husband Ronald and daughter Tanya