Roger Stokes, an English solicitor with the Yemeni law firm Sheikh Tariq Abdullah, has died after being found covered in blood in his flat. The circumstances of his death remain a mystery.
Stokes’ sister says the family still doesn’t know how the 49-year-old was injured. This morning she relayed what she does know to the Newcastle Evening Chronicle:
“Roger’s driver had gone to collect him from his flat for work on Sunday morning. He tried for half-an-hour to raise him and when Roger finally came to the door, he was bleeding badly from his head. The driver called an ambulance but, out there, it takes a long time for them to come. We understand Roger was unconscious by the time it arrived. He was alive when they put him in the ambulance, but died on the way to hospital.”
Shipping law specialist Stokes had been working in Yemen for the last 15 years. He had previously held positions at a small Tyneside law firm and insurance company Newcastle P&I (now known as North), having graduated from Newcastle University.