British tourist murdered in China
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Your support makes all the difference.A British man has been found murdered while backpacking along the Great Wall of China. Tom Dawson, 24, from Fulham, west London, was on an eight-month tour around Asia after graduating from the London College of Printing.
He is believed to have been found near the Great Wall on 2 October with multiple head injuries. He was in a ravine dressed only in a T-shirt, with most of his belongings missing.
A source said: "The cause of death was multiple fractures to the skull. He was murdered and an investigation is under way."
Mr Dawson left the UK for Hong Kong in early September before moving to the Chinese capital, Beijing. He had planned to start a career in the graphics industry on his return.
His mother and father, Ana and Peter Dawson, and his two sisters are said to be distraught. In a statement, they said he was an "extremely happy and vibrant young man, with a personality that charmed everyone who met him ... We are so completely bereft. We loved him so much. He lit up our lives."
One of Mr Dawson's friends, Nick Martin, said details of what happened and where were sketchy. "Tom was attacked while he was out there and he's dead," said Mr Martin, a property developer from Battersea, south London. "The case is with the Chinese authorities. That's all we know."
Mr Dawson is believed to have told his family that he was planning to celebrate his birthday on 29 September at the Great Wall. He was walking alone and the alarm was raised only when bloodstains were found.
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