Intruder who broke into villa dies after British family restrain him

The break-in happened during the early hours of Sunday morning, at around 4am, at a villa in the Algarve marina resort.

The Portugal News reported that the property belongs to a British couple in their 50s, who were there with their son, in his 20s, and who are understood to have lived in the country for a number of years.

The man was then joined by his son, who hearing the commotion rushed to help his father.

When officers arrived the suspected intruder was alive in a chokehold, but died when police tried to handcuff him, a report added.

“They said he was very strong and insisted on staying where they were till police cuffed the burglar”.

A postmortem to establish the cause of death will take place and the public prosecutor will decide if a crime has been committed.

The Britons were named locally as Trevor Taylor, 60, wife Jill, 59, and their son Scott, 31.

They have already been questioned by police, although investigators declined to say yesterday whether they had been quizzed as witnesses or arguidos – a term which translates loosely as official suspects but does not imply any guilt under Portuguese law as it gives them some legal defence.

She said: ‘Thank you for your concern but there is nothing I want to say at the moment’.

Sky News reports the man and his son, who allegedly caught and restrained the suspect before calling police, have been told they cannot leave the neighbourhood due to the house arrest, though they have not been formally arrested by police.

‘There had obviously been a struggle and the son was trying to restrain him while his dad tied his hands up.

The case has now been passed to Portugal’s main criminal investigation force, the Policia Judiciaria.

“It is obvious to me that if this man’s death is connected in any way to anything the father and son did, that what happened was an accident and not something they intended”.

It is understood they are receiving expert counselling after their ordeal.

The assailant, a Portuguese national in his mid-20s, is known to police, and has served time before, though it was unclear on exactly what charges.

A burglar has died after breaking into the home of a British couple in Vilamoura.