A British family’s holiday in Turkey ended in unimaginable tragedy when a young mother died in hospital — and her grieving husband was wrongly accused of murdering her. Luke Martin, his wife Beth, and their two young children — aged five and eight — flew to Turkey on Sunday, April 27, for what was meant to be a relaxing family break. But within 48 hours, Beth, 28, was dead — and Mr Martin found himself accused of poisoning her.
The harrowing ordeal has left the family reeling. To make matters worse, after Beth’s body was returned to the UK, a second autopsy reportedly revealed her heart had been removed — without consent, explanation, or documentation. An online fundraiser set up to support the devastated family has already raised nearly £125,000, with Mr Martin, from Portsmouth, who is self-employed, now struggling to support his children while battling trauma, legal fees and unanswered questions.
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Writing on GoFundMe, the family said: “Like many others with a great sense of pride and the classically strong British resolve, asking for money from family, friends and strangers on a public platform is not something that’s taken lightly.
“If this story doesn’t connect with you, please, at the very least, share this by any means necessary. Talk about it at work, at the pub, anywhere.”
The nightmare began the day after they arrived, when Beth began feeling unwell. By Monday morning, she had become delirious.
Mr Martin claims he called for help but was told no one would be available until 10am. After finally managing to get an ambulance — despite the language barrier — Beth was taken to hospital.
He followed in a taxi with their children. What happened next left all of them traumatised.
The family wrote: “The children watched helplessly as their mum was pinned down, poked and prodded invasively by strangers. No explanations. No understanding.”
Mr Martin claims he was told he couldn’t stay with her and was forced to trust the hospital staff. It was the last time he and the children would ever see her alive.
A stranger Mr Martin had befriended on the plane, stepped in to stay with Beth, allowing him to return to the hotel with the children. But within hours, Beth was moved to intensive care, and Mr Martin was cut off from all communication.
By the following morning, her condition had worsened. Both grandmothers flew out and went straight from the airport to the hospital, but staff refused to let them see Beth.
They were repeatedly told: “You can see her in 10 minutes.” Then: “Five more minutes.” However, they waited for hours.
Meanwhile, Turkish police arrived at the hotel. Without a translator, Mr Martin was interrogated and made to sign a document he did not understand, he claims.
Only later, through a translation app, did he realise what it said: Beth had died at 9am — information he had not been told, and which hospital staff had failed to pass on.
The family said: “He was grilled, accused and broken beyond repair. Being wrongfully accused in a foreign country of murdering someone you love so dearly is life-altering.”
Eventually, police cleared him of suspicion, but not before reportedly forcing him to sign documents, holding interviews in the back of a van, and denying him access to Beth’s body.
When he was finally allowed to see her, it was for just one minute.
The family say Beth’s mother was also permitted to say goodbye, under strict instructions: no touching, no kissing.
The family wrote: “Yet again, staff were over her shoulder. She couldn’t even embrace her dead daughter’s body.”
They were told to carry Beth’s body themselves — in a zipped body bag — through the hospital.
The family said: “The translator tapped away at her body bag. Like it was luggage. Like it was the briefcase of a businessman who’s late for a meeting. No compassion. No humanity.”
A post-mortem examination undertaken in the UK then revealed the awful truth – her heart was missing.
The family said: “They have invaded her body and they have taken her heart. No explanation. No consent.”
Mr Martin is now fighting to hold the hospital to account.
The family said: “He believes passionately that this is something that cannot be taken lying down.”
The GoFundMe campaign can be found here and has been shared more than 10,000 times as of publication.
The family wrote: “Luke has spent thousands. They are grieving, traumatised — and now trying to put the pieces of their family back together.”