A British pub landlady gunned down in Trinidad had been caught up in a fraught dispute over her father’s estate and had also clashed with some people in the quiet Kent village where she once ran the local, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Dramatic footage released yesterday captured the chilling moment a silver Nissan stopped on a street in Trincity, Trinidad and Tobago, before a gunman emerged from the passenger side and moved quickly down a driveway.
The attacker appeared to fire three shots from a 9mm handgun, then hurried back into the waiting car, which sped away from the scene moments later.
Left behind was a 65-year-old British woman dying on the ground, with her husband nearby, as horrified cries of “Oh my God!” and “What happened?” echoed around the street.
In an effort to understand why Elaine McGowan may have been targeted in what resembled a Caribbean contract killing, the Daily Mail travelled to Saltwood, the picturesque south coast village in Kent where she had been landlady of the local pub until last summer.
The daylight shooting on July 5 has, inevitably, become the main topic of conversation in the village, where speculation and theories are being exchanged quietly on pavements and outside shops.
Yet behind the rumours in Saltwood, a clearer picture has begun to form: a story marked by neighbourhood friction, a cross-border inheritance row and, ultimately, a devastating end.
Mrs McGowan’s sister, Joanne Butcher, said she was outside her godfather’s home when the shooting took place. Mrs McGowan was the daughter of Caribbean immigrants who had made their home in South London during the 1960s.
She is understood to have been in the Caribbean to attend to family business, relating to an estate the sisters had expected to be left by their late father – but which was instead given to his new partner. Records found by the Daily Mail appear to indicate his latest will was issued just a month before he died.
Elaine McGowan, 65, and her husband Ian McGowan, who was with her during the attack
A man is seen stepping out of the car in the Trincity area of Trinidad and Tobago on July 5 moments before Mrs McGowan was shot
Saltwood in the Kent Downs is littered with expensive retirement boltholes and family homes – including an historic castle that was owned by Alan Clark, Conservative minister and devotee of Margaret Thatcher, and now his widow Jane.
When Mrs McGowan’s name is first mentioned to its inhabitants by the Daily Mail, many purse their lips and mutter: ‘We mustn’t speak ill of the dead.’
Because it seems she and her husband Ian had not been popular characters in the village after taking over The Castle Hotel in August 2019.
‘Most of us were barred from going in there,’ one drinker explains, who has returned as a regular since it went to new managers in July last year.
‘Elaine and Ian would come out berating people for nothing, I don’t know why they were running the place. They would close early, if they opened at all.
‘Those of us who weren’t barred just stopped going in there, because they were so unpleasant to be around. And by that I mean everybody.’
By all accounts, the pub was virtually empty every night of the week under the couple’s tenure, with them kept just afloat by the five hotel rooms booked out continuously by travelling labourers.
It went from being a bustling community hub under the previous owner of 20 years, Dave Greenwood, to a ‘shell’ of a place.
Mrs McGowan reportedly lost her licence to sell alcohol at the premises after hosting illicit parties during lockdown – so it was reregistered under her husband’s name.
Mrs McGowan ran a pub in Hythe, Kent, and was killed in Trinidad and Tobago on July 5
After the attack the car drives off (left) leaving Mrs McGowan dying on the ground
Most of the staff eventually left after falling out with the tenant publicans, and today just one bartender remains who remembers working with Elaine.
‘How do I say this without being rude? She could be tricky,’ he tells the Mail.
At the end of the bar, Kenny, 59, reiterates the point in stronger terms. ‘It was a real shame, the pub went to complete ruin. They drove it into the ground,’ he says.
He recalls ‘rotting garden furniture’ and ‘tumbleweed in the hallway’.
An 83-year-old from a neighbouring town, drinking a pint of Heineken, said: ‘I always come in here to watch Liverpool on Sky. I kept coming in, even when it was Elaine and Ian, but would often be the only one in here.’
Locals said they would often see Elaine pull a bottle of wine from the bar fridge to take up to bed with her husband. She clearly felt little pressure to nurture the business.
MORE STORY: How a Veteran Costco Worker Became a Millionaire Earning $33 an Hour
Many villagers believe this is because Elaine expected to inherit a sizeable estate from her father, George Butcher, who owned a 24km stretch of the Trinidadian coast.
George had moved to the UK along with Elaine’s mother in 1954, but returned to Trinidad in 1985 to run the land – much of which is rented out to small farms growing coconuts.
While none could say the exact value of Cocal Retreat, near Manzanilla, Elaine had apparently admitted she did not expect to have to work again after selling off the land.
Mr Butcher had enough money to lend a friend the equivalent of £40,000 to buy a patch of land, and a single warehouse he built was valued at around £350,000 in 2019.
But following his death aged 90 in July 2023, he reportedly left the estate to his new girlfriend instead – completely blindsiding Mrs McGowan and her sister Joanne Butcher.
Records appear to show that Mr Butcher’s will was updated on June 20, 2023 – just a month before his death.
The couple lived in a campervan for almost a year before their latest trip to the Caribbean. It is still parked up two miles from their old pub
The couple are alleged to have taken a chunk out of a wall near the hotel when they moved their camper van
The McGowans used to run The Castle Hotel, also known as The Castle Inn, in Hythe, Kent
Mrs McGowan and her husband had travelled to the Caribbean for a couple of weeks shortly after his death, telling friends they needed to ‘sort out’ her father’s affairs.
In a chilling premonition, she had privately said to friends that she knew there was a chance she would be killed – though exactly what fuelled that fear remains a mystery.
After returning to the UK and deciding to ditch the pub, they bought a campervan for £3,000 and moved in. This was parked next to The Castle Hotel for their final month in charge.
The day after handing over the pub’s keys to Jakki Monroe, they drove it two miles down the road to the car park of The Fountain pub, run by some friends, taking a chunk of the garden wall with them.
The run-down Swift vehicle can still be found parked up on Seabrook Road, just metres from the pebble beach.
The couple had hoped to return to the van after their trip, having successfully laid claim to the plantation. But someone evidently had other ideas.
Hemang Patel, brother of Hemanshu, who runs Saltwood General Stores just around the corner from The Castle Hotel, was friendly with Mrs McGowan and saw her just before they flew out, around Easter time.
He tells us: ‘It was such a shocking thing to hear. I couldn’t believe it. Our businesses always supported each other when we needed it.
‘I think the pair of them were really looking forward to just chilling out after working all their lives, and Elaine had always wanted to move out there.
‘But they were planning on coming back to the UK last week, before moving for good. I really hope the police in Trinidad can get to the bottom of it.’
Elaine had told him only that she had some family business to sort out – but back at the pub she was more open about her objectives.
The barman recalls: ‘She said she needed to go over there to make sure she got the plantation. It took her by surprise when it was left to her dad’s girlfriend. She and her sister had been expecting it to go to them.’
How and why Mrs McGowan came to be shot right outside her godfather’s house remains a mystery – though the villagers have their own suspicions.
After the shooting she was taken to the nearby Eric Williams Medical Sciences Centre in Champs Fleurs but was pronounced dead upon arrival.
Trinidad police have not made any arrests or commented on the motive, but are calling for information from the public.
Mr McGowan is still out there, and attended a ceremony for Elaine on Friday, but is understood to be planning a return to Britain soon.
Back in Saltwood, people have slowly filtered back into The Castle Hotel – and are coming to terms with the very violent end to a difficult chapter.
One local said: ‘Obviously Elaine had a difficult relationship with people here, but you don’t wish that on anybody. I really feel for Ian and her family.’
Meanwhile, Ms Butcher paid tribute to her sister: ‘Elaine, myself and my cousins grew up in South London in the 60’s and our parents – all immigrants from Trinidad and Tobago – always believed in the values of family and community.
‘We spent every weekend and every holiday together, and I learned at an early age how important family is in good times and in bad.’
An FCDO Spokesperson told the Daily Mail: ‘We are supporting the family of a British woman who died in Trinidad and Tobago and are in contact with the local authorities.’
