Boxer charged with killing aid worker in Athens after his wife gave police key details

The BBC has been told Ahmadzai denies homicide with intent but admits moving the body, claiming that he did so because he feared he would be blamed for her death.

A statement from the police’s organised crime directorate said Ahmadzai was brought to a police station on 30 July.

“In particular, it emerged that the 26-year-old placed the body in a suitcase and transported it to the abandoned site,” the statement said.

Ahmadzai is accused of killing Ross, then sending a series of messages from her phone to her friends and family before switching off the device.

Greek newspapers Proto Thema and Ta Nea have reported that he bought a phone and texted Ross’s friends in Athens, impersonating an unnamed jihadist saying he had killed the Scot because of her religion.

The newspapers reported his wife told the police she suspected her husband’s involvement in the killing when she woke up to find he was not in their apartment and tracked his phone to where Ross was staying.

Police said Ross – who is from Edinburgh and is known to family and friends as Lisa – had been volunteering with a refugee support group based in Athens.

She arrived in Greece on 26 June and stayed in the Keratsini area of Piraeus until 10 July.

Ross is believed to have died a number of days before she was found.

Greek officials contacted Interpol and American authorities were able to identify her fingerprints.

The investigation was carried out by Greece’s organised crime directorate.

Additional reporting by Daphne Toli in Athens and Georgina Hayes.