The widow of former Thomas Cook and Tui director Marc Bennett has spoken out about the alleged circumstances leading up to his death in Qatar as part of an investigation by The Times.
Bennett was found hanged in a Doha hotel during Christmas 2019, 10 weeks after being arrested at the offices of his employer Qatar Airways.
His arrest came after he resigned and was considering a job from a Saudi travel firm, and followed allegations he had emailed confidential documents without authorisation.
The 52-year-old reportedly described his harsh treatment while held for three weeks after his arrest and was subsequently left in a “legal limbo” after his release.
The authorities declared his death a suicide but a British coroner ruled there was “no specific evidence of suicidal intent” and that “the circumstances of the months leading up to his death remain unclear”.
Bennett did not leave a suicide note and sent no emails or texts to his friends and family.
Mrs Bennett said: “He was hoping he would be deported, he was looking at flights every single day — not necessarily to the UK but anywhere.”
His family hoped he would be obliged to leave Qatar, with embassy officials promising to escalate the case after the Christmas holidays, but his death was confirmed on Christmas night.
The Qatari authorities offered to repatriate his body within two days, but the family insisted on visiting Doha to bring his remains home.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office closed the case last September, despite being reported to have been aware of the concerns of the coroner and the family,
Qatar Airways said that Bennett had been a valued and popular colleague.
A spokesman for the airline told the newspaper: “On 15 October Marc left the business and evidence subsequently came to light showing that over a significant period of time Marc had emailed highly confidential documents relating to Qatar Airways to a private email address without authorisation.
“Marc was still in Qatar at the point this discovery was made. He was arrested and this then became a police matter.”
The Qatari authorities did not respond to questions from The Times.
An FCDO spokesperson said: “We provided assistance to the family of a British man following his death in Doha.”
In a separate statement to Travel Weekly, Mrs Bennett said: “Marc had a large circle of friends in the travel industry and nobody knows what happened to him. I still get so many messages from his former colleagues and friends, asking the question and asking what I have found out. I needed to go as far as I could to get some answers.”