Killer in the Kasbah; Marrakesh Is the Playground of London's Social Set, but a Recent Murder and Attacks on Two British Women Have Cast a Shadow of Fear over the Souks

Byline: PAUL PALMER

THE DESERT city of Marrakesh, its very name redolent of the tumbledown Medina and a louche, exotic existence, has long been a magnet for well-heeled Brits. Only this summer, at the height of their marital travails, David and Victoria Beckham, materialistic arbiters of what is new and hip, took refuge from the world's media within the Moroccan city's walls.

It is precisely the sort of high-profile celebrity presence, complete with bodyguards and limousines, that has led to Marrakesh being hailed as the "new St Tropez", a city where Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss go shopping in the souks and where designer Jasper Conran has a home. And where, in their fashionable and gilded wake, the London social butterflies continue to flock, desperate to immerse themselves in the city's entrancing exclusivity.

But this week the British community in Marrakesh is living in a state of near-terror. In the past few weeks, the Evening Standard can reveal, a series of terrifying knife attacks on glamorous British women …

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: Killer in the Kasbah; Marrakesh Is the Playground of London's Social Set, but a Recent Murder and Attacks on Two British Women Have Cast a Shadow of Fear over the Souks. Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: The Evening Standard (London, England). Publication date: September 1, 2004. Page number: 29. © Not available. COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group.

This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.