Guard may have let people onto murdered diplomat's property

3.00 pm

The man who guarded the home of murdered New Zealand diplomat Bridget Nichols may have given unauthorised people access to the property the day she died, Solomon Islands police say.

"That is one area that police are still looking at to question him," Superintendent Charles Lemoa said today.

Ms Nichols, 50, the deputy high commissioner to the islands, died on Sunday afternoon after being stabbed in the chest with a knife at her Honiara home.

Mr Lamoa said there were no signs of Ms Nichols' killer entering or exiting the property, but the security guard should have known what was going on.

The guard was helping police on a voluntary basis, and was not a suspect, Mr Lamoa said. He was being kept at the police station for his own safety.

"He might be attacked or some people might talk with him and tell him not to tell the truth or something like that," Mr Lamoa said.

There were also fears that if the guard was released he might run off.

"With the assistance from the two New Zealand detectives maybe they could interrogate him (the guard) further," Mr Lemoa said.

Mr Lemoa said no suspects had been identified in the hunt for Ms Nichols' killer.

Ms Nichols' body arrived back in New Zealand on Monday on an air force plane. Her funeral will be held on Tuesday in Wellington, where she practised as a barrister before becoming a diplomat.

- NZPA