Tears of Sarah's father as he reveals he pleaded with her to stay away from Indian houseboat where she was stabbed to death

The father of the backpacker murdered in her hotel room in India described today the heartbreaking dawn phone call telling him of his daughter's murder.


Sarah Groves, 25, was found on Saturday in a pool of blood inside her room on a house boat hotel on the Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir. She had been stabbed 45 times.
Dutch tourist Richard de Wit, 43, who had a room adjacent to Miss Groves in the hotel, has been arrested on suspicion of her murder.

Describing the 5.45am call from India that brought news of her savage killing, her father, Victor Groves, from Guernsey, said today: 'It was still dark, I didn't know where the phone was, and I stumbled around to pick it up.

'The voice on the other end was a very rough Indian accent and he said: "Mr Groves, your daughter is dead, she has been murdered".

'I said to him: "You can't just say this to me, it may not be true." I didn't know if it was genuine. I rather suspected it wasn't, but he knew a lot about the situation.
'I immediately called Guernsey Police ... They confirmed two hours later or so that it was genuine.
'That's where we are now and, sadly, where we will always be.' Mr Groves spoke at a press conference near his Channel Island home as a British diplomat arrived in Srinigar to escort his daughter's body to the Indian capital, Delhi.

Miss Groves' Kashmiri boyfriend, Saeed Ahmed Shoda, 26, also spoke today of the moment he came face to face with her alleged killer in the police station where both faced questioning over the crime.