A British former Rolls-Royce chief stabbed to death on the steps of his multi-million-pound home has sparked a large-scale police manhunt in Southern Germany.
Ian Cameron, a “legendary” designer according to the luxury car firm, had been found dead at his £3million-valued mansion in Bavaria on Friday, prompting tributes from across the motoring world.
Cameron, 74, had reportedly been knocked to the ground after answering the door, while his wife Verena Kloos – also a leading car designer at BMW – fled to a neighbour’s house to raise the alarm and call the police.
Authorities currently looking into the case said their “investigation suggests that this was a violent crime”.
Ian Cameron fell victim to the horror attack on Friday
Car Body Design
A number of power cables to security cameras over Cameron’s vintage car garage are said to have been severed, heightening fears that his suspected killer had planned to break in and burgle the property.
One official said: “If cables were actually cut there, that sounds like good preparation.
“But it is extremely rare that a burglar or a robber who prepares himself in this way then stabs and kills.”
Bavarian police are now four days into a large-scale manhunt after Cameron’s death in Herrsching am Ammersee on the shores of the region’s Lake Ammer, with authorities in Munich urging the public to report any potential sightings for the alleged killer.
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German police have been hunting high and low for the suspect, who was caught shopping on CCTV that evening
Police
Neighbours have described the suspect as around six feet (180-190cm) tall, according to German outlet Bild.
And CCTV imagery released by police shows him as being a blonde, bearded man – reportedly wearing a blue hoodie and light-coloured trousers on the night of the attack.
More footage of the alleged killer showed him shopping in a supermarket earlier in the day – but in a different outfit to the one worn during the attack.
Bild also reported that the suspect’s backpack had been found on a promenade by the Ammersee, which allegedly contained his clothes from the crime scene and products bought at said supermarket before Cameron’s death.
The backpack in question is currently the centre of police efforts to try and find a DNA match for the suspect.
But authorities have counselled calm, telling Germans there is no wider risk to the public.
The horror attack will come as a shock to locals – according to police data, Bavaria ranks last out of all of Germany’s states for its per-capita crime rate.
But nationwide, more official figures paint a darker picture, with German newspaper Welt am Sonntag revealing that violent crime had jumped by almost nine per cent from 2022 to 2023 to just under 215,000 cases.