The wife of an Australian resident found with his throat slashed and dumped in a Bali rice field is suspected of ordering a hit on him.
Noor Ellis was last night in police custody after earlier in the day reporting her businessman husband Robert Ellis, 60, missing.
His body was found yesterday morning wrapped in plastic and dumped in a watery ditch at the side of a rice field, with three deep gashes in his neck.
Police initially said Mr Ellis was an Australian citizen, but now say he was a British passport holder who had lived in Australia long-term.
His Indonesian wife has been declared a suspect, while a man accused of being the killer was arrested in Padang Bai, a port in east Bali, where he was trying to flee to the island of Lombok.
A further three people are wanted over the grisly crime.
Badung police officer Komang Suartana says Noor Ellis, whose full name is Julaikah Noor Aini, has allegedly confessed to ordering the hit because of marital problems.
"She says she was hurt by the victim," he said.
"There were many factors, one of them that her husband was frequently cheating on her.
"She then ordered four people to kill him."
Friends of Mr Ellis, who was known as Bob, say they are stunned at news of his death.
Ross and Katherine Taylor, of Perth, say they've known the couple for years, and are thinking of their children at this time.
"We are coming to terms with this tragedy only very slowly," said Mr Taylor, who is the president of the Perth-based Indonesia Institute.
Mr Taylor said Mr Ellis was a very successful businessman who had lived in Indonesia for many years and was well liked.
He had been looking at acquiring a fish processing business in Sulawesi, he said.
He owned a villa in Sanur, Bali, where he had settled for the past several years.
Flowers were arriving at the villa yesterday afternoon from friends paying their respects to his wife.
