Football granny murdered in France — South African hubby speaks out

Karen Carter

Bordeaux – A French investigating magistrate on Wednesday launched a formal murder inquiry into the stabbing of a 65-year-old British woman outside her village home.

Karen Carter, who played for the local “Queens of Football” team amongst many local activities, was murdered in the southern village of Tremolat last week.

A man, with whom Carter had been in a relationship for several weeks, called police after he found her body next to her car late on April 28, prosecutors have said.

Police initially detained the man, but rapidly released him again saying there were no “suspicious elements against him”.They then detained a 69-year-old woman from Tremolat who had been friends with Carter, but freed her after checking her movements on the day of the murder.

Carter suffered eight stabs wounds of “particular violence”, investigators said Wednesday as they announced that an investigating magistrate had been appointed to look into the murder.

The “Queens of Football” on Saturday held a minute of silence for their former player, the group said on its Facebook page.

One player described Carter as a person who “loved life”, and had only just returned from South Africa where she and others played in the “Grannies World Cup” in April.

Joelle Mayer, who played for the team, told AFP that the British woman was an active member of the community in the village of some 600 inhabitants.

“She was a charming, serene woman who loved life. She was always smiling and much loved here,” she said.

“We’re all in shock.”

She said Carter always joined local initiatives and last year was among players on the team to strip naked for a jokey calendar to raise funds for the trip to South Africa.

An online sample of the 2025 “Queens of Football” calendar, which went on sale in October, shows black and white pictures of the players in which their faces cannot be seen.

But, said Mayer, Carter did not speak much about her private life.

On that, “she was also secretive and guarded,” she said.

Her husband Alan, who lives in South Africa, told France Bleu radio that he learnt about the death through a cousin.

He said he and his wife and he were not divorcing but going through a tough period.

The couple had two sons and two daughters in their twenties and thirties, leading their own lives in Britain, the United States and Australia, he said.

He said he and his wife decided to buy a cottage in Tremolat after spending a holiday there 15 years ago.

Article written by