SOUTH AFRICAN detectives were today talking to the mother of murdered Stuart Gaskell in a bid to find out more about his brutal killing.

In a telephone conversation with the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, Mrs Sheila Park confirmed she had told police today about the night her son was shot dead by a gang of robbers.

Police are following up a series of leads after a £7,000 reward was offered for information about Mr Gaskell's death in Cape Town.

The 26-year-old former Burnley man was shot twice in the head by robbers who raided the truck hire firm where he worked in the Killarney Gardens suburb of Cape Town last Friday night.

Mrs Park and his wife Estelle, 25, who had gone to the Value Truck Hire office to tell Stuart he was to become a father, were left bound and gagged in a container lorry. The gang robbed the family before escaping with £27,000-worth of electrical equipment in a truck, which was later found abandoned 20km away.

Stuart's car was also taken but later found near the Killarney race track, half a mile from the scene of the murder.

The 50,000 rand reward, made up of 20,000 rand from the company and 30,000 rand from the police, has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Stuart's killers.

It was offered as the case received widespread publicity on TV, radio and newspapers in Cape Town.

Supt John Sterrenberg, communications officer for the West Cape Police, said: "We are following up a number of clues and leads at this time and we have put out an appeal for people to come forward with information. "Information has come in and is being followed up. Armed robberies are a regular occurrence here and murders like this do happen on occasion.

"But they still send shock waves through our society and crimes like this are reviled."

Mrs Park, 52, of Manchester Road, Burnley, had travelled to South Africa for a holiday with her son and his wife.

Her husband Edgar, who runs Eddie's Bakery in Manchester Road, said both women were distraught.

Stuart, a former pupil at Barden High School, Burnley, and Estelle were married in South Africa and left their home in Nuttall Street, Bacup, to live in Cape Town seven months ago.

His funeral will be in Cape Town on Friday and a remembrance service will be held in Burnley after Mrs Park has returns home on February 17.

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