RETIRED British actress Viscella Richards has been found dead at her home in the Caribbean.
Richards, who used the stage name Vikki Richards, was found with her hands bound in her bedroom in North Valsyn, north of Trinidad, on Wednesday.
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Viscella Richards was found dead in her Caribbean home on Wednesday
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Arthur Edwards of The Sun persuaded Wolves star forward John Richards to pose with Vikki Richards in 1974 – a photo that would launch his successful careerCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
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Police cars on scene in Trinidad
Police believe the 79-year-old was killed by robbers after her property was found looted.
Authorities said there were no other signs of violence on her body.
Vikki started her career on stage and later appeared in the TV series The Onedin Line, Return of the Saint and Howard’s Way.
Richards was best known for her supporting actress role in Black Snake, a gritty 1973 British blaxploitation film shot in Barbados.
In 1974 she was in the first photograph taken by legendary Sun photographer Arthur Edwards when she posed with Wolves star striker John Richards
Edwards was able to persuade Richards to pose with the actress, taking the photo that would launch his stellar career on Fleet Street.
Single and childless, Vikki held both Trinidadian and British citizenship after moving to the UK with her family in the early 1950s aged 6.
She returned to Trinidad after retiring from television and stage acting.
Local police are investigating after her body was found by a carer on the bedroom floor of her home near Port of Spain this week.
Her body was discovered by a friend who went to check on her after he had not been able to reach her since Tuesday night.
The woman arrived at the house and found the front door closed.
She called out to Richards several times after finding the front door ajar and running into the body while searching the house for the old woman.
Her friend, barrister Sir Timothy Cassel KC, said: “The door was open when she was found and the door was open.
“So whoever was there, she let them in.
“Whether she knew them or not, or whether they manipulated her vulnerability, who knows? It’s terribly sad.”
The hard drives from the security cameras were also stolen.
“Yes, we were concerned about her safety because we were preparing things to get someone to stay with her as her illness progressed,” the relative said.
She said Richards is still well enough to take care of herself, but she can’t be left alone much longer.
“We have a lot of memories to talk about, but too many to mention,” she said. “She was a very friendly person, very open and outgoing.”
Shocked friends had a hard time taking in the news as they recalled the kind of person Richards was.
One neighbor said: “She was a beautiful lady, a warm person, attractive, thorough.”
“Living alone in this place, we felt she needed someone in the house with her, but in a situation like this when people realize she lives alone… she might have been an easy target,” he added.
Another relative, who asked to remain anonymous, said she only returned to Trinidad in January after spending time in England and continental Europe following a trip in December last year.
“She loved to travel and shop. She loved to be outside and she traveled all over Europe. She loved Italy,” Richards’ cousin said.
Asked if she had seen her cousin’s movies, she said she had seen a few, “but I never followed the movies she starred in.”
Richards’ cousin did not want to talk about how she died, but noted that pieces of jewelry were missing from her home.
A security guard employed by SWAT Estate Police said officers carried out two daily patrols at 9am and 11am and would steal their security pass at Richards’ home during those patrols, but were not informed of the discovery of her body until around 12.30pm.
Arthur, who photographed her again to mark his first photo last Christmas, said: “Even in her late 70s, Vikki was a beautiful woman with a kind heart.
“It was a pleasure to photograph her. I am deeply saddened.”
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How Arthur’s first photo, of John and Vikki, looked in The Sun in 1974
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education