Cornish yacht thief couple 'killed by pirates'

A couple who went on the run a year ago after stealing a yacht have been found shot dead on a sailing boat drifting off the coast of Senegal.

Sharon Arthurs-Chegini, 46, an interior designer and mother of three, and her lover, Peter Clarke, 49, a businessman, are believed to have been killed by pirates.

The pair fled the country last year after stealing a 33ft (10m) yacht from Mylor harbour, near Falmouth in Cornwall. The craft was later spotted by a harbour master at the nearby port of Fowey on March 25 and the couple were arrested for theft. They were due to appear in court the next month but fled, it is believed, to Spain.

Terence Arthurs, Miss Arthurs-Chegini’s father, described Clarke as a thief and an absolute rotter and blamed him for his daughter’s death. He said that he believed the pair had sailed to Europe on stolen boats.

Mr Arthurs said: “Sharon introduced him to us and said she loved him, but he made off with two of our oil paintings and we never heard from him again. We’ve been told Senegalese fishermen found his body on a sailing boat off the coast. When they brought the vessel into harbour, they found Sharon’s body inside. They think that it was pirates but I wouldn’t be surprised if Peter Clarke stole that boat.

“After they skipped bail they went to Scotland, then Plymouth, then Jersey – and the last thing we heard they were in Spain. They got to Africa and if it wasn’t for that man, Sharon would be alive now.”

He added: “We last saw Sharon with him 18 months ago. He said he was this and that and a businessman but it was all hogwash — he was a conman. Nobody liked him. But she said he was her soulmate and that was that.”

Sharon’s mother, Lily, added: “God knows what Sharon saw in Peter Clarke. All we know is there was a shooting, they were murdered and they think it was pirates.”

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “Two bodies, of a man and a woman, have been found on a vessel floating off the coast of Senegal. Formal identification has not been made, but we have spoken to the families to inform them that there is a chance that they may have lost relatives. We will liaise with the Senegalese authorities to establish what has happened.”

Devon and Cornwall Constabulary said: “They have been wanted on warrant by us since April last year. We made our inquiries with Interpol but we never heard from them. Obviously, if they were found in Senegal, they were off our radar.”

Friends of the couple in Penryn, Cornwall, yesterday described Miss Arthurs-Chegini as a free spirit. One, who asked not to be named, said: “Sharon was one in a million and whatever she was up to, her death is a terrible tragedy. Sharon was a complete free spirit, and she felt she had finally found it with Peter. They vanished after taking the boat and we just got rumours that they were in Scotland, Jersey or Europe.”

Miss Arthurs-Chegini, who has three children by Tom Podgorski, her former partner, and who ran a design business from her home, acquired her double-barrelled name after what her father allegedly called a “marriage of convenience” to an Iranian immigrant, Sharia Chegini.

Mr Podgorski is thought to have moved to the United States, leaving behind the couple’s three daughters: Natasha, 18, Alana, 17, and a 15-year-old.

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