By Stefan Morkis

THE BROTHER of a Dundee man murdered in the Philippines said last night he believes “100%” the killer will never be caught.

Siblings Frank and Wendy Barker have found themselves caught in a nightmare in south east Asia, where they have received no help from Foreign Office officials and believe local police to be corrupt.

Fifty-one-year-old Gordon Barker was murdered on November 14 as he walked through the Malate area of Manila, stabbed twice in what police have described as a bungled robbery.

After being attacked around 3am local time, Gordon managed to flag down a taxi, which took him to hospital. More than a week after his murder, the taxi driver is the only witness police have traced in connection with his death.

Speaking from Manila yesterday, Frank said, “I am 100% certain that the man who murdered Gordon won’t be caught.

“The corruption out here is terrible. The police are all looking to take their cut.

“When they gave us Gordon’s things back they told us there was no diamond ring, but how would they know there had been one if it was stolen?”

He added that he had heard from other ex-pats that the man leading the investigation into his brother’s murder had been suspended, although this was dismissed as untrue by police in Manila yesterday evening.

Frank and Wendy have both been strongly critical of the help they have been given by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office since arriving in the Philippines to reclaim Gordon’s body.

They say the FCO failed to even help recover his body from a common mortuary.

Frank said the FCO officials in Manila had no previous experience in dealing with situations like the Barkers are facing.

“They don’t use the word help—they say they will assist you but all that means is they will point you in the right direction for things you need,” said Frank.

Frank and Wendy also had to recover Gordon’s body from the mortuary themselves, despite asking the FCO to have it taken to an undertaker at the Barkers’ expense.

“We said we would cover all costs but they didn’t do anything,” said Frank.

“The situation is so bad that a local businesswoman paid for a bodyguard, interpreter and driver for us and then we paid her back.”

Wendy and Frank attended Gordon’s cremation on Thursday.

“It was absolutely heartbreaking,” said Frank. “We’ll hopefully be bringing his ashes back to Scotland on Sunday.

“The embassy staff haven’t even contacted us once while we’ve been out here.

“None of this is going to help Gordon, but if any UK citizen is going to be faced with the same situation in the future then something has to be done immediately.”

A spokeswoman from the FCO said they did try and meet the relatives of murder victims at the airport, although not in certain cases where they were familiar with the country they were visiting.

“We cannot comment on details of individual consular cases,” she said.

“We are of course concerned that the family feels they have not received enough assistance from us in this case and we will discuss this with them.”