RAT TRIBUTE Hero British mine clearance worker murdered in Cambodia honoured with giant bomb-sniffing rat
Jerome Starkey
0:37, 13 Jul 2021Updated: 0:38, 13 Jul 2021

A HERO British mine clearance worker murdered in Cambodia has been honoured with a giant bomb-sniffing rat.
Army veteran Christopher Howes was just 36 when he was killed by Khmer Rouge fanatics as he risked his life to clear landmines in 1996.

Now a giant African pouched rat — which grow as large as a cat — has been named Howes.
The rats are trained to sniff out explosives.


Chris’s sister, Pat Philips, said it was a fitting tribute to a brave and exceptional man.
But she added: “The void left in our lives by my brother’s needless murder is undiminished.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15576407/ ... oured-rat/

Back story:

Remembering Chris Howes - Killed 25 Years Ago by Khmer Rouge


A boulevard in Phnom Penh provides a memorial to Christopher's work
Shot charity worker was 'exceptional'
[Note: This is an old article:Page last updated at 12:59 GMT, Tuesday, 14 October 2008 13:59 UK]
By Andy McFarlane
BBC News

The jailing of four men in Cambodia for killing British charity worker Christopher Howes ends his family's 12-year quest for justice.

A plaque in a Phnom Penh street is the only physical reminder of the senseless killing of a Briton who wanted only to make Cambodia a safer place.

Christopher Howes had been clearing explosives for the charity, the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), in north-west Cambodia when he and his interpreter Houn Hourth were kidnapped and killed in 1996.

The 37-year-old charity worker, from Backwell, in Somerset, was shot in the back by members of the notorious Khmer Rouge and his body burned immediately denying him a decent burial.

So it was with pride and comfort that his parents, Roy and Betty, were told a boulevard would be renamed Christopher Howes Street in their son's memory.

His family had suffered two hellish years of uncertainty after his disappearance, before the Foreign Office finally confirmed his death. His heartbroken mother died in May 2007.

His sister Patricia Phillips told the BBC News website: "Chris was an exceptional, brave man, a good son and brother, and a tragic loss to us, and to the humanitarian cause to which he was devoted."

She recalled how the family had initially been relieved when he had gone to work in Cambodia, after a stint in Iraq clearing mines.

"We thought he was safe, but that turned out to be wrong," she said.

She said that in Cambodia her brother had been able to move around freely and would call his family from restaurants.

Even after hearing of his kidnap, the family had been offered false hopes numerous times.

"There was a lot of false information about Christopher being alive and brought out of the jungle," said Mrs Phillips, of West Yorkshire.

"When we finally heard that Chris and Houn had been killed soon after their capture, it came as a terrible shock," she said.

But speaking after the verdict, she said it was an "enormous relief" to the family.

"Although we have never sought revenge, we are very pleased the murderers have been brought to account," she said.

'Agony and anguish'

At this month's trial, Chistopher's father made the same simple plea: "We seek not revenge, but justice in their names."

His statement told how his son's kidnap on 26 March 1996 had devastated the family.

"We spent more than two years of agony and anguish not knowing whether Christopher was alive or dead," he said.

When told of his murder, their "terrible anger" at his killers was tempered by relief at finally knowing he was in peace.

Christopher's actions before his death were also a source of pride.

Thirty armed Khmer Rouge guerrillas had emerged from the forest to surround his 28-strong team.

When told to retrieve the ransom his kidnappers demanded, Christopher refused to leave his team and instead negotiated their release. Only he and his interpreter died.

In 2001, this bravery was recognised through a posthumous Queen's Gallantry Medal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7661957.stm

Lest we forget:
The Cambodian interpreter Houen Hourth was also killed by the same group of Khmer Rouge who murdered Chris Howes.