AN OXFORDSHIRE woman has been found murdered in a rented bungalow in India, police said last night.

Denise Higgins, 52, thought to be a retired civil servant, had been living in the country for about six months.

A police spokesman in southern Goa said Mrs Higgins, a widow, had been killed with her own kitchen knife after a row with an Indian man on Thursday night.

A man was arrested at a nearby railway station the following morning, he said.

The police spokesman said officers were called to the bungalow by a rickshaw driver who had gone to collect Mrs Higgins to take her shopping at 9am on Friday.

"He said that the main door was locked so he went to the back door which was slightly open," the spokesman said.

"He found her lying on the floor in the sitting room and there was blood everywhere. He was frightened and came to the police station."

He said the arrested man, a 28-year-old waiter named Anand Kambli, met Mrs Higgins when she visited Goa previously.

The Calcutta-born British national moved to the popular tourist destination permanently in November last year and had invited Kambli to visit her, which he did with his wife and young daughter. According to police, the wife and daughter were asleep in the next room and have not been seen since.

He said any sexual motive for the attack had been ruled out, saying: "She told him something and he got angry. We don't know what she said."

Mrs Higgins's daughter, who is in her 30s and lives in Britain, is due to fly out to Goa shortly.