Tributes to murdered aid worker (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)

Tributes to murdered aid worker

3:40am Monday 30th April 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013

Tributes have been paid to a British aid worker whose body was found dumped in an orchard in Pakistan.

Khalil Dale was abducted at gunpoint in January while working with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Baluchistan province. His kidnappers left a note on his body, saying he had been killed because they had not received a ransom.

The 60-year-old Scot from Dumfries had been awarded the MBE for his humanitarian work overseas. Mr Dale, who changed his name from Ken when he became a Muslim, was engaged to be married and had been living in Pakistan for nearly a year.

Friend and former colleague Sheila Howat worked with Mr Dale at Dumfries Infirmary, where he was a staff nurse, and had known him for 25 years. She said: "It's unbelievable what they've done to Ken. It's soul destroying. For someone who has given their life, devoted their life, to caring for others - it's just so wrong.

"Ken was an absolutely lovely person who saw good in everybody. He wanted to make the world a better place for people who had nothing. This is why he went to all the war-torn countries to try to make things better, particularly for the children. He knew the risks. He was quite aware of them."

Mrs Howat said Mr Dale's fiancee Anne, who is also a nurse, lives in Australia. She added: "I was so happy that he had finally found happiness. I think their engagement happened quite recently."

Mr Dale was travelling home from a local school, in a clearly-marked ICRC vehicle, when kidnappers bundled him into a car in the city of Quetta on January 5. The identities of his captors are unknown, but the region is home to separatist and Islamist militants who have kidnapped for ransom before.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: "I was deeply saddened to hear about the brutal murder of Khalil Dale - a man who was killed whilst providing humanitarian support to others. This was a shocking and merciless act, carried out by people with no respect for human life and the rule of law.

"Khalil Dale has dedicated many years of his life to helping some of the most vulnerable people in the world and my thoughts today are with his friends and family."

Russell Brown, MP for Dumfries and Galloway, said: "Dumfries is a close-knit community, and has been left shocked by the death of Kahlil. It is a terrible tragedy, made all the worse by its gruesome nature. The fact that someone could kidnap and murder a man who was in Pakistan to help people is an unspeakable act of barbarity."