Lynette Pearson (16 April 1950 – 11 December 2001), known professionally as Lynette Lithgow), was a

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

-born, British-based newsreader and journalist. Her first media job was as a broadcaster for

Radio Television Brunei Radio Television Brunei (, Jawi: راديو تيليۏيشين بروني, officially abbreviated as RTB) is the national public broadcaster of Brunei, headquartered at the Secretariat Building, Bandar Seri Begawan. Radio Brunei made its fir ...

during the 1970s. During the 1980s, she moved to Britain. After working as a presenter for ''

Midlands Today ''BBC Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the West Midlands (region), West Midlands. It was launched in 1964 and is presented by Mary Rhodes, Nick Owen, Elizabeth Glinka, Rebecca Wood and Shefali Oza. Overview ...

'' and a continuity announcer for

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

, Lithgow moved to London as a newsreader for the national BBC News in 1988. Lithgow was one of the original presenters at

BBC World Service Television BBC World Service Television, often abbreviated to WSTV (World Service Television), was the name of two BBC international satellite television channels between 1991 and 1995. It was the BBC's first foray into worldwide television broadcasting. In ...

when it launched in 1991 and she also presented BBC 2's ''Newsview''. She left the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

in 1996 upon gaining a law degree from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. She subsequently moved to the business news channel

CNBC Asia CNBC Asia is a Singapore-based Business journalism, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is a pan-Asian branch of the U.S.-based CNBC. The channel initially launched on 20 June 1997 out of Ho ...

(based in Singapore), where she worked until her death in Trinidad in December 2001.

Murder

Lithgow was murdered, along with her 83-year-old mother, Maggie Lee, and her British brother-in-law, John Cropper, at the family home in

Port of Spain Port of Spain ( ; Trinidadian and Tobagonian English, Trinidadian English: ''Port ah Spain'' ) is the capital and chief port of Trinidad and Tobago. With a municipal population of 49,867 (2017), an urban population of 81,142 and a transient dail ...

. The family was found with their hands bound and their throats cut. A detective who spoke anonymously due to a rule forbidding police from contacting the media during an investigation said "I have visited a number of scenes in my career, but I never see anything as brutal or grisly as that." While earlier reports stated that a "group of bandits" had ambushed the home, only two men were arrested and charged for their involvement in the crime: Lester Pittman and Daniel Agard. Both were convicted of murder in 2004, and sentenced to death; under Trinidadian law, murder convictions come with a mandatory death sentence. After several appeals, both Pittman and Agard had their sentences overturned in March 2010 due to a law prohibiting the executions of prisoners who had spent more than five years on death row. In December 2013, both were re-sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison.

Personal life

Lithgow was married twice and had two children from her first marriage. Her second marriage, from 1998 until her death, was to Dominic Pearson. In 2005, the Harvard Kennedy School established a fund in Lithgow's honor to support students interested in journalism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lithgow, Lynette 1950 births 2001 deaths Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to the United Kingdom BBC newsreaders and journalists Murdered journalists Trinidad and Tobago murder victims Violence against women in Trinidad and Tobago Alumni of the University of Oxford