India won't let me back in, says mother of girl murdered in Goa

Fiona MacKeown, a former Camden market stall holder, has been told that her request for a new visa to travel to India is currently under consideration. She applied for the visa last month and should have received it in just 48 hours.

Mrs MacKeown wants to return to India to collect her daughter's organs, which were removed following a post-mortem. Mrs MacKeown wants them to be analysed in Britain but also so she can give her daughter a proper burial in Devon.

Frustrated: Scarlett's mother Fiona MacKeown

Scarlett was found dead on a beach in Goa on 18 February, and police originally claimed she had drowned after taking drugs.

But pressure from Mrs MacKeown embarrassed the Indian authorities  -  highly protective of the lucrative tourist industry in Goa  -  into a new investigation, which concluded Scarlett had been murdered.

Mrs MacKeown said today: "They have put a block on my getting a visa and have referred my application to Delhi. They may not be refusing me my application but they are definitely blocking it. I applied for the visa on 29 May and it's supposed to take 48 hours."

Mrs MacKeown fears the investigation into her daughter's murder is being subject to a new cover-up and that the case against her suspected killer or killers is in danger of collapse.

A new forensic test in India  -  which Mrs MacKeown has dismissed as a fix  -  apparently showed her daughter had no sexual contact on the night she died.

This is despite a witness claiming to have seen Scarlett having sex with a man on the beach.

Murdered: British teenager Scarlett Keeling was found on a beach in Goa four months ago

Samson D'Souza, a 28-year-old bartender, has been arrested on suspicion of drugging and raping Scarlett before leaving her to die in shallow sea water. A second man, Placido Carvalho, is accused of drugging her and facilitating her death.

Mrs MacKeown, 43, from Bradworthy, Devon, who has repeatedly complained about the police handling of the case, said: "We know Scarlett was having a sexual relationship and there are witnesses saying she was raped." 

She is awaiting the outcome of a third autopsy in Devon and had planned to return to India later this month to keep pressure up on authorities.

Her lawyer Vikram Varma said: "I think the case is falling apart. It will be extremely difficult in court to get justice for Scarlett now. If the claims of rape are not substantiated then it is quite possible the men could be released."

Mrs MacKeown has been criticised for her alternative lifestyle.

She had nine children by five different fathers and left Scarlett in the care of an older man while she travelled with the rest of her family and her then boyfriend.