THE heartbroken sister of alleged murder victim Wendy Singh paid an emotional tribute to her last night.

Danielle Nuttall

THE heartbroken sister of alleged murder victim Wendy Singh paid an emotional tribute to her last night.

Christine Stringer was speaking as an appeal was launched to raise funds to fly her sister's teenage son home to England.

It is alleged 39-year-old Wendy Singh was murdered by her husband Raymond, 29, a former EADT journalist, on the weekend of May 10/11 at their home in Fiji following an argument.

Fijian police sources have unofficially told local media that she was stabbed 71 times. The autopsy results show that she died from fatal injuries to the throat.

Singh was arrested, charged and refused bail and is scheduled to appear in the High Court of Fiji on May 23.

Singh and Wendy had left their Ipswich home last year with Wendy's 16-year-old son George, who suffers from autism, to move to Fiji. They also had two children who were born in Fiji, where Singh grew up.

Speaking from Fiji last night, Mrs Stringer, who lives in the Isle of Wight, said: “Wendy was so lovely. She was fun-loving. She knew what she wanted and went out to get it.

“She was full of life. Whatever came in front of her she would tackle it and she would deal with it. She had lots of friends and loved going out.

“We communicated through email. The last time was a few weeks ago. She said she was really busy and was sorry she hadn't emailed but when she moved she would write a big email. She said she still loved me and I said I loved her. I was waiting for her email to let me know everything but it never happened.”

Mrs Stringer, who runs her own home care company, added: “It was Sunday there when we found out and there was nothing we could do. We couldn't talk to anybody. We were trying to raise funds to come over. We were banging our heads against a brick wall.

“We were begging the bank to give us the money to go over.”

The family approached the Lucie Blackman Trust's Missing Abroad Programme for help with the costs involved with recovering her body from abroad and bringing George back to the UK, where he will live with Mrs Stringer and her family.

After Missing Abroad ran an initial appeal, the family was offered a loan to cover the cost of flights. But they still need to raise more funds so they can bring George back to the UK and repatriate Mrs Singh's remains - a cost likely to reach nearly £5,000.

In total costs are expected to top £12,000. Missing Abroad has been able to assist and obtain reduced cost prices for parts of the trip but still needs to raise money.

Members of the public can donate online at www.lucieblackmantrust.org using a secure credit/debit card link. You can also call the donation hotline on 0904 0440180 or send cheques to the address on the website.