THE young wife of a pensioner found dead in Gambia has told police she knocked him unconscious before dragging him from their beachside home and setting him alight.

Ghanaian-born Kate West, 26, had previously told Gambian police that five Nigerian men took her 76-year-old husband William from their luxury four-bedroom home in the fishing village of Sanyang and killed him.

Gambia Police assistant superintendent, Aziz Bojang, said she had since told officers she killed businessman Mr West, from St Helen's Park, Hastings. Mr West disappeared more than three weeks ago.

Mr Bojang said they were treating her claims with caution and could not rule out the possibility of accomplices being involved.

West led officers to a bag containing the charred remains of her husband's body just outside the perimeter fence of their property.

Mr Bojang said: "She has told police that she hit him over the head with a heavy object which we are still trying to recover.

"She then said she dragged him out of the house to the main yard and set him alight using wood and foil.

She has told us she murdered her husband on her own, without anyone's help.

"This is the latest of several stories she has given us, and whether it is true or not, it is not possible to say.

"What we are doing at the moment is verifying the various stories she has told us. We are still not ruling out the possibility that accomplices were involved in the murder."

Mrs West originally told police that Dublin-born Mr West disappeared on July 3. She claimed he had gone missing after going to buy cigars while on a day trip to Senegal during their month-long holiday to Gambia.

Mrs West returned to the UK without her husband two days after his disappearance and then went back to Gambia with a friend of Mr West's, David Jenkins, to help find him.

She was then arrested by police in Gambia and remains in custody in the capital Banjul while inquiries continue into the murder.

Mr West met Kate, his second wife, in 2000 and reportedly married her after a few months. His first wife Doris died in 1994.

On Tuesday The Argus reported that Mr Jenkins said he felt "a cold emptiness" when Mrs West was charged with murder.

He said his friend had been a happier man since remarrying. He added he did not feel angry when Mrs West was charged.