Three of Sir Peter's crew to accompany body to England

10.00 am

Three crew members from Sir Peter Blake's conservation vessel Seamaster will accompany their slain skipper's body from Brazil to England, where he will finally be laid to rest.

The world-famous New Zealand yachtsman will be buried in the small south England village of Emsworth, Hampshire, on Friday (Saturday morning NZT). He and his family have lived in Britain for the past 20 years.

New Zealand's Ambassador to Brazil Denise Almao said this morning that one of the crew members who will accompany Sir Peter was his close friend and colleague Don Robertson. They will leave on Sunday morning, Brazilian time (later today NZT).

Brazilian police yesterday arrested the last two suspects in Sir Peter's killing.

Police said they found a watch and an inflatable dinghy with the two remaining suspects, adding to the watches, cameras and cash they confiscated from the rest of the pirates last week.

Known in the region as "River Rats", the pirates slipped aboard Sir Peter's moored Seamaster vessel late on Wednesday. Four men confessed to the attack on Friday, saying they shot in self-defence.

Sir Peter, 53, was shot twice in the back, dying immediately.

Federal police in Macapa, near the mouth of the Amazon, said yesterday they tracked down the two remaining fugitives on a nearby island, ending a manhunt for a group of six.

Federal police spokesman Jose Araujo said earlier that the men had confessed to attacking the boat, but said they only shot Sir Peter because he had gone for a gun.

"They had no intention to kill him," Mr Araujo told Wellington newspaper the Dominion.

"You should never react in a robbery, even if you don't know whether they're armed or not.

"Give them your money or your watch...that's what lost him his life."

Ms Almao said the governor of the poor Amazon state of Amapa, northern Brazil, of which Macapa is the capital, had asked her to convey to New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark the region's sympathy and shock over Sir Peter's death.

The state hoped to develop a memorial to Sir Peter's work.

"They want to explore ways in which some good can come out of this terrible event," Ms Almao said on National Radio.

The first steps in the trial of the pirates accused of killing Sir Peter and looting his ship is expected to begin on Tuesday, Brazilian time.

Ms Almao said federal prosecutors would begin cross-examining witnesses in a hearing likely to last 81 days.

Miss Clark said today that after Sir Peter's death, Brazilian authorities acted at a speed "just about unprecedented in the Brazilian system".

"The president said 'find those men' -- they were found in a very short period of time and the system has moved very, very quickly at every point to help us.

"We could not have asked for more from the government of Brazil."

Miss Clark said she would be working with Sir Peter's widow, Lady Blake, to organise a memorial service in New Zealand.

- NZPA

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