Serious crime is a mounting worry for many Caribbean countries

British investigators were expected to join local efforts to solve the killing of sixty-one year old Patricia Ann Lee.

Her body was found at the bottom of a cliff in the northern part of the island last week.

Admitting that St Lucia was taking a hard knock from violent crime, Prime Minister Anthony said he'd seen a level of savagery that's unbelievable.

Reputations at stake

Dr Anthony said the cycle of violence in his country was causing a lot of grief, with St Lucia's reputation suffering as well.

Forensic Pathologist Stephen King said an autopsy showed Ms Lee died from a stab wound in the back.

And in Dutch St Maarten, Holland is placing special attention on a crime wave gripping its half of the island it shares with France.

It's putting in place a security plan for the territory.

One of the main concerns highlighted by Dutch Interior Affairs Minister Johan Remkes who has been visiting the Dutch Caribbean is the need for adequate staffing of the local police force.

	There are fears that rising crime will hurt Caribbean tourism

Mr Remkes said however that Holland did not want to intervene directly as this is principally a matter for the government of the Netherlands Antilles.

A spate of crimes in Dutch St Maarten has been highlighted by several killings, robberies and other violent attacks including one on two homosexual American television producers.

Damage limitation

That high profile incident forced the St Maarten tourism authorities into quick damage control.

Several arrests were subsequently made and the matter is now in court.

The St Maarten police are also proposing to recruit officers from Suriname a former Dutch colony.

Twelve people have been killed so far for this year in St Maarten, a tourism dependent Dutch territory of 16 square miles with a resident population estimated to be over thirty thousand.

The security plan proposed for St Maarten is in addition to a general security plan for the Netherlands Antilles.

Aruba, another tourism dependent island, has had to mount a massive public relations drive following a campaign of negative publicity in the United States, waged by the mother of an American teenager, who has been missing on the island for over a year now.

Outside help

Holland is to take over the investigation into the disappearance of the American teenager, Natalie Holloway.

Aruba, like St Lucia and St Maarten derives most of its tourism from the United States.

Many other countries in the region have seen an upsurge in serious crimes and several have sought assistance from the United Kingdom and the United States in a bid to curb the trend.