Scientist killed for money say police

Former Auckland University scientist Barbara Johnston was killed for money, a British court has been told.

Dr Johnston, who lived in Auckland for 23 years until she returned to Britain last September, was found dead in her one-bedroom Oxford flat nine days ago.

Police battered down the door and found the 55-year-old in the bedroom. Fully clothed, she had been strangled with her own jumper and had 49 stab wounds.

Last Saturday, two days after Dr Johnston's body was found, police arrested a man who was this week charged with her murder before Oxford magistrates.

Michael Humphries, a 42-year-old glazier from Faringdon, about 30 minutes' drive from Oxford, had worked with other men replacing windows on Dr Johnston's flat and others in the same block.

They did the work just before Christmas.

Dr Johnston, a shy woman who became talkative with those she came to know, is believed to have answered the door to Humphries as there were no signs of a forced entry.

She was last heard from three days before she was found, when she spoke by phone to her parents, who live 100km from Oxford. They called police when they were unable to contact her.

Inquiry head Acting Detective Superintendent Steve Tolmie indicated to the Weekend Herald that the motive for the "very brutal, ferocious" attack was money.

"It was reported in court there were some of her bank cards stolen and money taken from her accounts."

Mr Tolmie said Dr Johnston was not sexually assaulted and he ruled out any link between the attack and activists opposed to animal experiments.

Dr Johnston is credited with doing world-leading research on fetal breathing and temperature.

She left Auckland University and science in 1995.