Colombian businesswoman accused of killing two girls with poisoned raspberries arrested after being pulled from the Thames

Electric car entrepreneur Zulma Guzman Castro, 54, has been accused of killing Ines de Bedout, 14, and Emilia Forero, 13, on April 3 last year.

It alleged the killings were part of a “revenge plot” against her ex-lover and Ines’s father, Juan de Bedout, after their affair came to an end in 2020, shortly before the death of his wife.

An international manhunt was launched after Castro fled Colombia in the wake of the girls’ deaths.

Read more: Teenagers who posed for selfies after beating and killing man are jailed

Read more: 'Come get me': Colombia's president issues stunning rebuke to Trump's threats against country

According to reports in the Sun, the alleged killer was discovered after being pulled from the River Thames near Battersea Bridge on December 16 last year.

After she overcame her injuries, the National Crime Agency arrested her.

On Tuesday, the 54-year-old appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court for an extradition hearing.

Rosemary Davidson, prosecuting, told the hearing that Guzman Castro had been subject to detention under the Mental Health Act until she was discharged earlier on Tuesday and arrested by police at the hospital.

A spokesman for the Met said: "Police were called at 6.45am on Tuesday December 16 to reports of a woman in distress on Battersea Bridge.

"The Met's Marine Policing Unit recovered a woman in her 50s from the water at 7.14am and she was taken to hospital, where her injuries have since been deemed not life-threatening or life-changing."

Interpol, which connects police forces across the globe, had issued a red notice for Castro after she fled from Colombia to Brazil and then moved to Spain.

Castro denies any charges against her and claims she was in the UK to visit her son.

The NCA is believed to have discovered Castro’s whereabouts after she gave an exclusive interview to Colombian news outlet Focus Noticias.

While she did not disclose her location, a bottle of Buxton mineral water, which is only sold in the UK, appears in the footage.

An NCA spokesman said on Tuesday: “Zulma Guzman Castro, aged 54, has today been arrested by officers from the NCA’s National Extradition Unit (NEU).

“Castro, who is wanted by the Colombian authorities in relation to murder and attempted murder, was arrested in W10 area of London. She is due to appear at Westminster magistrates’ court this afternoon.”