Pastor is accused of murder after his pregnant British wife is found dead in hotel bath in Ghana

A church preacher is being held on suspicion of murdering his pregnant British wife in a hotel room in Ghana.

The body of Charmain Adusah, 41, was discovered by hotel staff face down in a bath where it is believed she had been lying for four days.

Her husband, Eric Isaiah Adusah, a self-proclaimed prophet and evangelical preacher, was alleged to have left the hotel hurriedly on the day she is believed to have died.

He told hotel managers at the time that his three-month pregnant wife was ill and did not want to be disturbed.

A close family friend claimed last night that Mr Adusah, 28, flew back to London but later returned to Ghana after his wife’s body was found by concerned hotel staff who used a spare key to check on her after she failed to answer the door.

Mr Adusah, originally from Ghana, is being held in police custody in the African country on suspicion of murdering the former NHS radiography assistant, whom he married suddenly last September – following a whirlwind romance – in a wedding which shocked her family and friends. 

His wife, whose maiden name was Speirs, already had an eight-year-old son from a previous relationship in Wales. 

But the boy has not yet been told the awful news and was staying with his father, a British man, last night.

Mr Adusah is the leader of Global Light Revival Ministries church based in Tottenham, north London and has been active as a preacher in Britain since 2010.

He has led sermons he describes as ‘divine visitation’ events across the UK and Ireland, receiving £1million in charitable donations in five years and giving sermons on religious satellite television channels.

A close family friend last night accused Mr Adusah of being a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’, telling The Mail on Sunday: ‘We think he brainwashed her.’

Mrs Adusah – who was considered the ‘First Lady’ of her husband’s ministry – grew up in Arbroath in Scotland, and studied a degree in photojournalism at Swansea University. She worked as a radiography assistant in the Welsh NHS and later separated from the father of her son.

She was described as a ‘free spirit’ who started following Mr Adusah’s church around two years ago. They started a relationship early last year and married in September in London.

The couple had travelled to Ghana early this month so Mr Adusah could preach at a three-day religious conference hosted by controversial evangelist ‘Bishop’ John Yaw Adu, who has been exposed for chaining up mentally ill patients at ‘prayer camps’ for days on end so he could ‘heal’ them through prayer. 

Local reports claim Mr Adusah and his wife had argued at the start of the trip and he had booked himself into a budget motel alone, leaving her to stay with Bishop Yaw Adu.

After the conference ended, the couple apparently reconciled and checked into the Mac-Dic Royal Plaza Hotel in Koforidua, where they booked in for five days on March 16. The upmarket hotel has security gates and tropical gardens. 

The couple were said to have argued over the length of their stay, according to the reports, with Mrs Adusah apparently wanting to stay in Ghana for a month but her husband saying it was far too long.

Mr Adusah is said to have left the hotel at dawn the next day and warned reception that his wife did not want to be disturbed. 

But hotel managers became concerned when she still had not left the room and would not respond to knocks on the door. On March 20 hotel porters used a spare key to gain access to the room.

A spokesman for Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at the police headquarters in Koforidua said Mrs Adusah was ‘found dead in the bath lying prostrate with a white towel wrapped around her, almost in a decomposed state’.

Her close friend Christine Stephen, 42, of Camberley, Surrey, who has known Mrs Adusah since childhood, told The Mail on Sunday that the family did not hear about her death until March 21.

She said: ‘I spoke to Charmain’s family and they said Eric had been in touch on that Saturday to say she had died. He said he was flying back to Ghana to identify her body on Sunday. 

He also told them he had returned to England because he had a three-day church event he had to attend here. 

But he was vague about the details of what happened, saying she had wanted to remain out there to help underprivileged children.

‘Charmain’s family couldn’t get hold of him after that Saturday, presumably because he had been arrested back in Ghana.’

Mrs Stephen said none of her friends took to him. ‘We thought he tried to cut her off from us, that he had brain-washed her. What person declares himself a prophet? Charmain was religious but she wasn’t a pastor.’

Mrs Stephen said the family wants to go to Ghana and repatriate their daughter’s body but they cannot afford it. Charmain’s mother Linda Speirs, 61, last night said she had been given legal advice not to comment.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘We confirm the death of a British national in Ghana. Mr Adusah has not requested consular assistance.’

A representative of Mr Adusah’s church said: ‘There is no story. She died of natural causes.’