Homicide detectives investigating the death of a woman whose body was found inside a suitcase in an abandoned building in Kypseli, a residential district of Athens, on 18 July, have made a breakthrough after establishing her identity.

The victim has now been identified as a British woman, born in February 1988, following an official notice sent to the Hellenic Police (ELAS) by the Washington office of Interpol, the international police cooperation organisation.

Immediately after the body was discovered, Greek authorities took fingerprints from the woman, but found no match in the national database. DNA testing subsequently ruled out any connection to missing persons cases already reported by relatives who had come forward and provided samples.

Once it emerged that the woman had been wearing shorts bearing the name of a French university, all international police channels, including Interpol, were alerted. As the days passed without a match, detectives from the Organised Crime Division increasingly suspected she was not Greek.

The breakthrough came on Monday evening, when the US branch of Interpol confirmed the woman was a 38 year old British national with the initials E.R.

Travelled to Greece via Cyprus

Initial inquiries have established that the woman entered Greece via Cyprus in the recent period, giving investigators a starting point from which to build their case.

Detectives are now working to establish whether she was travelling with anyone else on the day in question, information they expect to obtain from the airline involved. They are also examining whether any hotel booking or short-term rental was made in the greater Athens area during the relevant period.

Investigators are expected to liaise closely with Cyprus Police, who are also expected to gather evidence likely to prove useful to the case. It is considered possible that the British woman had been living in the United States, where her biometric data may already have been on file.