A COUNCILLOR has told how he discovered the body of a brutally murdered woman while on holiday.

Councillor Gary Hall spent a fortnight in the Cabarete resort of the Dominican Republic, where he stayed with family and friends.

It was when he joined a quad biking group through sugar cane fields near Puerto Plata that the grisly find was made.

He said: " I never want to experience anything like that again. No-one should have to see what we saw."

Cllr Hall, who is a Wycombe District councillor, and also the former mayor and a current town councillor of Princes Risborough, made the discovery on January 22.

He said: "We turned off the road and about five minutes later everyone started to slow down. We saw someone in the road, and first I thought it was a tramp or drunk or someone not very well."

"Not only had I found a dead body, but a raped and murdered body."

Cllr Hall said that he was surprised by both his own reaction and that of the group's local guides.

He said: "I was surprised by how calm I was. We were all upset. We were quite shocked by the attitude of the Dominicans. We had a guide - we asked them to call the police but they continued on. A couple of hours later when we returned to the spot the body was still there."

He added that he was amazed the police did not take statements from himself, or anyone else in his group.

He said that reports of the murder appeared on the local TV news, where it emerged that the victim had been a 26-year-old bar worker.

But even though Cllr Hall was told someone has been charged with the murder, he was still alarmed by the way the incident was handled.

He said: "The authorities were trying to play it down. I suppose they were worried that if it got out then people would stop coming . But as well as sunshine and sea, this sort of thing happens as well, and I think people need to be aware of it. It's worrying that it happened on my resort on the island where most of the Brits go"

Cllr Hall said the disturbing events had not put him off visiting the resort, but had certainly left their mark.

He said: "Hopefully that's my first and last murder. I just personally felt that it was a really degrading way for a girl to die. it horrifies me to think of what happened to her.

"I have always been in favour of the death penalty, and since I saw that I still am."