have spoken for the first time about the horror revenge killing of a man believed to be British who was lynched by a baying mob.

in the South American country’s Amazon region and burnt alive by around 200 locals armed with guns and makeshift weapons. The unnamed man had been arrested hours earlier on Sunday on suspicion of shooting dead a member of the local community. The shooting victim has been named as Rodrigo Chavez. A police chief covering Ecuador’s Sucumbios province said overnight, in the first official reaction to the double killing: “We are still trying to establish the specific identity of the citizen we believe is a British national.

“I say we’re presuming he’s English although we don’t have documents that prove his nationality status. We’re trying to confirm all the information including his migration status.

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“We don’t have any proven information relating to how long he had been in this community. We know that he was working and teaching English and was making reservations for tourists visiting the area but we don’t have any more information right now and that is the focus of ongoing investigations which are seeking to determine his full name as well.”

The police chief added: “There had been problems between the two men that died. The man we believe to be British had shot a local man, causing his death.

“He was subsequently arrested by police.” Describing the mob that stormed the police station and threatened to harm officers as around 200-strong, he said: “The locals acted after finding out the detainee was about to be transferred out of the area.

“They were carrying guns and other weapons including stones, sticks, spears and even cans of petrol they were threatening to burn the police station down with and harm officers. The police did everything humanly possible to safeguard the person who had been apprehended over the shooting.

“Unfortunately the size of the mob exceeded the capacities of the seven police officers who were at the scene.” The UK’s Foreign Office is said to be following up on widespread reports the man hauled out of the police station and lynched was British, and working with local authorise to confirm details of his murder.

He was killed around midday local time on Sunday, some six hours after he had been taken into police custody. The Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve is a popular eco-tourism area.

It is the second largest reserve of Ecuador’s 56 national parks and protected areas, and is located in the Putamayo Canton in Sucumbios Province.