Brian Thorp
Brother Brian Thorp was a British Roman Catholic Mill Hill missionary who was robbed and murdered in Africa, where he had spent decades working.
In mid-April 2008, his body was found in the church compound where he had lived for nearly ten years on the Kenyan island of Lamu. He had been bludgeoned to death by the robbers with a wooden stick. He was 77 years old.
The British High Commission said that Br Thorp's death was being treated as murder and that it had offered the Lamu police consular assistance for the investigation. “It is possible that he was killed because he might have recognised the robbers”, according to Rev Anthony Chantry, the Mill Hill Missionaries' general superior. “Br Brian was a gentle, just and conscientious missionary who took his life commitment to serving those most in need, very seriously.” [1]
Background
Brian Thorp was born in Bamford, Derbyshire, the fourth of five sons. He became an apprentice carpenter, served two years as an orderly in the RAF. After the death of his younger brother he joined the Church. He had served as a missionary in DR Congo, Uganda and Kenya.