Car thieves suspected of kidnap killing

CAR THIEVES are believed to have abducted and murdered Grant Price, 43, the accountant found dead with multiple stab wounds a week after disappearing while on a shopping trip in Gosport, Hampshire, with his nine-year-old son David, writes Jason Bennetto.

The boy left his spectacles in the car and Mr Price went back to collect them. David told police he thinks he then saw the car being driven away with three other people at about 2.30pm. Mr Price's body was found on Friday night on an isolated shingle beach at Hurst Spit, near Keyhaven, Hampshire, about 40 miles away.

Police are linking his death with an incident two hours before his disappearance, when a man was struck on the head and stabbed by two youths who attempted to take his vehicle at a car park in Fareham.

Detectives are trying to find out if Mr Price was killed somewhere else and his body moved to the spot about 20 yards above the high-water mark. There was no attempt to conceal the body.

After Mr Price's disappearance, pounds 200 was withdrawn from his bank account at Alton, Hampshire. Three attempts were made to obtain more money from one of the machines. Later, his card was used to learn the balance on his account at a bank at Winchester. His wallet and personal papers were found on a track in Cosham, near Portsmouth.