NICOSIA - The bodies of an elderly British couple were found stabbed to death Friday at their home near the northern Cypriot port of Kyrenia, the Turkish Cypriot news agency TAK and Greek Cypriot radio reported.
Lyn Mahoney, 71, and his wife, Ann Maureen Mahoney, 63, were discovered by their cleaning lady, TAK said, quoting police. The couple was said to have lived in the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) for 17 years.
The motive was still not clear, but TAK suggested it might have involved a bungled burglary.
The British high commission in Nicosia would confirm only that a British couple had been found dead Friday morning at there home in Lapithos, outside Kyrenia.
A spokesman said a consular official had been despatched to the scene and was liaising with Turkish Cypriot police.
Several hundred Britons, mostly retirees, live in the TRNC, particularly in the Kyrenia area.
Cyprus was a British colony until it gained independence in 1960. It has been divided since 1974 after Turkey invaded in response to an Athens-inspired coup by Greek Cypriots seeking to unite the island with Greece.
03/04/2005 16:30 GMT