Brit stabbed to death in Portugal as police probe Blue Whale suicide game link
A young British man has been stabbed to death by another Brit in a woodland in Portugal amid rumours they were playing the deadly "Blue Whale suicide game."
Police confirmed today they had arrested a British man on suspicion of murdering a compatriot but said neither was being named at this stage. Well-placed sources said both were part of a larger group of around half a dozen British people who had been staying at an "off-grid living community", run by an Oxford public school-educated nature lover and his partner.
Police found the victim’s body in remote woodland between the localities of Poco Negro and Soalheira, near the town of Pedrogao Grande, on Sunday. Xavier Hancock and his Madrid-born partner Arantxa Atauri have owned the community site, Libelinha Venture, since 2017, but there is no suggestion they had any involvement in the events leading up to the stabbing.
Xavier Hancock and Arantxa Atauri who run the Libelinha Venture (Xavier Hancock/Facebook)Initial reports said the stabbing had occurred during an argument after the group started playing the Blue Whale suicide game. But a source has since said: "The friends who raised the alarm early on Sunday morning told police they had been playing the game but there was no evidence of that in the initial inquiries officers made before the full investigation started."
Detectives from Portugal’s Policia Judiciaria (PJ) force spent yesterday questioning at least three men and two women, including the Brit described as the chief suspect. A well-placed PJ source said: "The suspect has been arrested. The circumstances including the possible motive are still under investigation. Both the detainee and the man arrested on suspicion of killing him are British."
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The death happened in a community near Pedrogao Grande in PortugalThe knife the suspect allegedly used is said to have been recovered at the scene after they went with officers to the remote woodland spot where the British man’s body was found. Footage published by Portuguese daily Correio da Manha showed GNR officers lifting the dead man’s body on a stretcher after it was covered with a sheet and putting it into the back of a nearby police van. The group that raised the alarm are thought to have attended a private party on Saturday night near the area where the dead man’s body was found before heading to the remote woodland spot. The PJ has yet to make any official comment.
Oxford public school-educated nature lover and his partner who run the nature community in Portugal (Xavier Hancock/Facebook)Mr Hancock, who describes himself as a digital creator on social media, has spoken about "falling in love" with the forest valley near the picturesque village of Figuero dos Vinhos, about a 15-minute drive from Pedrogao Grande, where he and his partner created their community in a forest valley. Volunteers wanting to take part in the family-run project focusing on land regeneration and reforestation are offered Glamping accommodation on site as well as food.
A write-up on one online site offering volunteers the chance to get involved, thought to have been drafted by Xavier and his partner, says: "We are trying to create something that is becoming rare in this day and age. The unique opportunity to disconnect, while enjoying life by living simply surrounded by nature, in a remote enchanting forest valley. We are looking for volunteers who will join us for a month or more, who bring good energy to the land and community, who take pleasure in giving and are willing to get involved in a wide range of projects to help create the vision. Living in a forest, means we are totally off-grid, creating the rare opportunity to disconnect from the usual connections in modern-day life, allowing us the time to enjoy the natural surroundings as well as the people around us."
The "Blue Whale" game is believed to have started in Russia where it has been linked to 130 suicides and there have been reports of young teens playing the game as far afield as Italy to Iran and Bulgaria to Bangladesh. Xavier Hancock and Arantxa Atauri have been approached for comment.
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