British actress Viscella Richards has been found dead at her Caribbean home.
The star, who used the stage name Vikki Richards, was found with her hands bound inside her bedroom in North Valsyn, north of Trinidad on Wednesday, March 6.
According to reports, police believe the 79-year-old TV personality was killed by robbers after her property was ransacked.
Cop say there were no other marks of violence on her body.
Richards was best known for her role as a supporting actor in Black Snake, a 1973 British film shot on location in Barbados. She began her career onstage, later appearing in TV’s The Onedin Line, Return of the Saint and Howard’s Way.
Local police are investigating after her body was found this week by a carer on the bedroom floor of her home near Port of Spain.
Her body was discovered by a friend who went to check after being unable to reach her since Tuesday evening, March 5.
The woman arrived at the house and found the front gate closed.
According to The Sun, she called out to Richards several times after finding the front door ajar and stumbled upon the body as she searched the house for the elderly woman.
Her friend, barrister Sir Timothy Cassel KC, said: “The gate was open when she was found and the door was open. So whoever was there was let in by her.
“Whether she knew them or not, or whether they manipulated her vulnerability, who knows? It’s terribly sad.”
The hard drive from the security cameras were also stolen.
Shocked friends struggled to take in the news as they recalled the type of person Richards was.
One neighbour said, “She was a beautiful lady, a warm person, engaging, thorough. Living alone in this place, we felt she needed somebody in the house with her, but in a situation like this with people realising she lived alone. She may have been a soft target.”
A family member, who asked to remain anonymous, told the press that Richards returned to Trinidad in January after spending time in England and Europe.
“She loved to travel and shop. She loved being out and travelled throughout Europe. She loved It.”
Richards’ relative did not want to talk about how she died, but noted that pieces of jewellery from her house were missing.
She held both Trinidadian and British citizenship after moving to the UK with her family aged six in the early fifties. She moved back to Trinidad following her retirement from acting on TV and stage.
