British girl has been found in a suitcase in Brazil
Asked why he took photographs of himself dismembering the body, he is quoted as saying: 'I took them to send to a Brazilian friend in England, who she (Cara) had stolen money from. He said he was going to kill her. 'I was going to send them to him by email to show that although he didn't have the courage to do it, someone here did.' The 20-year-old also said he made a mistake by leaving the suitcase containing Cara's torso by a river bank.
He said: "I made a mistake, the suitcase was supposed to fall in the river. If it had fallen in the river nobody would have found it, as they haven't found the head and the other parts."
Cara Marie Burke's torso was found in a suitcase dumped on a riverbank on Monday, but her head, arms and legs were missing after being thrown into the water. Police say Miss Burke was murdered by dos Santos after she had threatened to expose him as a drug-dealer.
Yesterday Brazilian police arrested her boyfriend on suspicion of murder. Miss Burke's body was reportedly identified by her mother, Ann, who was watching Brazilian TV from her home in Wandsworth, south London. Police were said to be still searching for Miss Burke's head and limbs, which dos Santos said he hid in a rural area about 20 miles outside Goiania.
Miss Burke's brother, Michael Burke, told The Times she was due to return to London two weeks ago but was injured in a motorcycle crash on the way to the airport. He said: 'My mum had paid for the ticket home and we were looking forward to having her back. She was a wonderful sister.' She was a former pupil at Southfields Community School and reportedly played for the Chelsea FC ladies team.
Her boyfriend was born in Brazil, but police said his parents live in the UK, and that he had met Cara in Britain. They say he quickly confessed to murdering her, and that he had taken pictures of her mutilated body on his mobile phone. However last night he claimed that he did not kill Cara. 'I was in my apartment when something happened. She got killed there but I can't say what happened. It wasn't me' he said from his cell in a telephone interview with the Sun.
He told the newspaper that he was never romantically involved with Cara. He said she had flown out to be with another Brazilian who had paid for her ticket and was furious that she later ended their relationship.
'He said he was going to kill her because she spent so much on the ticket,' said Carvalho. 'She moved in with me but she was never my boyfriend . We lived together for about two months and then she moved out because she had another boyfriend.'
Cara, from South London, is believed to have gone to Brazil with do Santos three months ago. They had shared a flat in Goiania, 120 miles from the capital Brasilia. According to friends, Cara loved Brazil and had been to the country twice before. Lenita Alves de Brito, spokesman for Goiania's Policia Civil, said the couple recently split because she believed he was a drug dealer. She moved in with friends, but for some reason she went back to the flat at the weekend. This is london has reported. 01/08/08
  
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