Josh Menkens was remanded in custody at a court in Leiria on Wednesday (Picture: Nick Edwards)
Portuguese police have described how a British engineer allegedly stabbed a fellow festival goer to death and then ‘desecrated his body’ following his arrest on Sunday.
Josh James Menkens, 27, was remanded in prison yesterday after being questioned over the death of a 37-year-old British man following a music event he had helped organise at a remote commune in Portugal.
Detectives had remained silent about the investigation after other Brit revellers alerted them to the macabre crime.
But in an unusually detailed statement last night, they revealed how Menkens, from Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, had allegedly hidden his victim’s body after violently attacking him in woodland near the site of the four-day festival, called the Mad Hatters’ Tea Party.
Initial reports suggested the death occurred during a row while a group of friends were playing the notorious Blue Whale suicide game – but this was ruled out by investigators.
The alarm was raised early on Sunday after a group of British nationals went to a police station in the central Portuguese town of Figueiró dos Vinhos.
In their statement, the Policia Judiciaria (PJ) said: ‘The PJ’s Central Directorate, with the collaboration of Pedrogao Grande’s GNR police force, can confirm it arrested a man for the alleged crimes of homicide and desecration of a corpse in the town of Soalheira.
‘The defendant, a foreigner and organizer of a party on a rural property, took the victim to an isolated forest location where, armed with a knife, he attacked him with unusual violence, stabbing him in several parts of the body and causing his death.
‘After committing the homicide, the suspect hid the body using tree branches and pieces of clothing.’
The man’s body was found in a forest clearing near Figueiró dos Vinhos in central Portugal (Picture: Shutterstock)
It continued: ‘The victim, a 37-year-old foreign man, had travelled to Portugal to participate in the event and apparently did not know the defendant personally.
‘It has not yet been possible to determine the motive for the crimes, but any relationship with games or online challenges has initially been ruled out.
‘The 27-year-old detainee was present during his first judicial interrogation which resulted in his preventive detention.’
The off-grid community where the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party took place is owned by public school-educated Brit Xavier Hancock and his Spanish partner Arantxa Atauri.
There is no suggestion the couple were in any way involved in the stabbing in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Police were called to the scene on Sunday
Mr Hancock said earlier this week: ‘As this is an active investigation, I will only answer questions from the authorities who we are cooperating with fully.
‘Once the official evidence has been released, I would consider sharing the story.’
A promo for the festival, which was due to run from September 20 to 24, described it as a ‘gathering filled with great music and fantastic souls’ and urged those planning to attend: ‘Show love, kindness, and respect to ourselves, each other, and the land.’
Tickets cost €50 (£43) and included four nights of camping on site, although guests were given the offer of upgrade ‘glamping’ options costing up to £120.
The knife that investigators believe was used to kill the 37-year-old was found alongside his corpse, left in a small clearing in woodland.
A post-mortem is thought to have taken place on Monday in the university city of Coimbra, although the results have not been made public.
An acquaintance of Menkens spoke yesterday of his shock at the arrest.
The entrepreneur, who runs an eco-retreat where the Brit stayed to ‘de-stress’ from his hectic job, said: ‘He was here for a week and we developed a superficial work relationship afterwards, in which we were trying to get each other small freelance contracts.
‘We knew he was from the UK and had a really really busy life and was working 50 to 60 hours a week and he needed to relax and de-stress.’
He added: ‘When I met him, I felt he was a really really good dude in his mid-twenties when he visited us some three years ago.
‘We established a good connection and he loved our daughter and he loved the animals on the farm, and he had a really good experience here.
‘He was a small guy with a big smile and there was no violent vibe about him at all.’
Josh Menkens’ father Troy said he flew out to Portugal the morning after getting a frantic call from his son (Picture: Nick Edwards)
Josh’s father Troy, who spoke to Mail Online yesterday afternoon outside court, revealed: ‘I got a call from him out of the blue, just before midnight on Sunday.
‘My son was talking at a million miles an hour, in a head-melt, firing stuff at me. I was trying to be as calm as I could and find out where he was being held and how I could get there.’
The Australian-born businessman added: ‘When I got the call, I thought, what the hell, and pulled myself together and asked, “Where are you, what police station?” So I booked on a flight and got a taxi there the next morning.
‘I didn’t know much about the festival, I knew he was coming over for some kind of festival, but didn’t know any details about it. I wasn’t concerned, because he’s never given me any reason for concern.’
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