Brit doctor, 46, arrested over murder of model, 36, found dead inside suitcase – after he called The Sun with ‘alibi’

A BRITISH medic wanted over the murder of a Colombian model found stuffed inside a suitcase at her rented apartment has been arrested.

Convicted stalker Matthew Foster-Smith protested his innocence just hours before his arrest, telling The Sun: “It wasn’t me I was watching England.”

The 46-year-old from Poole, Dorset, was cuffed by cops in Ecuador last night over the violent death of Natalia Villalba.

Natalia, 36, was found dead in an upmarket residential block in the Colombian capital on June 22. 

Pictured wearing shorts and a baseball cap, Foster-Smith was held at Quito International Airport before questioning.

It is feared he was trying to board a flight to return to London, in the UK.

Overnight Colombian prosecutors claimed he had beaten his victim to death before trying to conceal his alleged horror crime.

Aggravated femicide, the charge Foster-Smith is likely to face, carries a prison sentence in Colombia of between 40 and 50 years.

Bogota mayor Carlos Fernando Galan, posted on X: “The man believed to be responsible for the murder of Natalia Villalba has been captured in Ecuador.

“In Bogota, if you commit the crime, you pay the price.”

A task force made up of Bogota police, Interpol, Ecuador’s migration services and Dorset police were involved in locating the suspect, he said.

Natalia’s body was found by a cleaner under a running shower in the bathroom of seventh-floor apartment 702 at the Morph Chico building.

Her grief-stricken mum Claudia revealed earlier this week her daughter had stopped taking her calls last Thursday.

On the same day Foster-Smith was reportedly seen leaving the apartment block after entering Natalia’s apartment the previous day.

CCTV cameras reportedly recorded Foster-Smith taking bedsheets to a laundry room in the building before leaving.

Evidence from the investigation indicates Foster-Smith allegedly entered the apartment where the victim was alone, prosecutors said.

He then allegedly physically assaulted her until she died, and “manipulated the body” to fit inside a suitcase.

Prosecutors claim the former doctor then carried out a series of calculated actions to conceal his crime before he fled the scene.

Foster-Smith left Colombia on Sunday via the Rumichaca International Bridge, a bustling border crossing between Colombia and Ecuador.

The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia said it would ensure the British nation is prosecuted in Colombia for aggravated femicide and concealment, alteration, or destruction of material evidence.

Speaking to the Sun a day before his arrest he claimed he had a lock-tight alibi.

“I was watching England versus Croatia on a big screen in an Irish bar so it wasn’t me”, he claimed.

“After the match I went into the shopping centre, I mooched about, bought an ice cream, and came back later for the later games”, he added.

But The Sun has discovered a string of holes in his alibi. 

The England match kicked off at 3pm in Bogota on June 17. Police believe the alleged murder between 11.30am and 5.30pm the following day. 

And he initially denied fleeing Colombia. But he quickly backtracked saying he was in Quito, planning to get a UK flight. 

He said he had fled after receiving “death threats” from local gangsters over a debt. 

In 2020, Foster-Smith was jailed for 18 months for stalking an ex in Dorset and putting revenge porn online. 

In October last year, he was handed a new two-year and two-month prison sentence for stalking another woman. 

More to follow… For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online