A 71-year-old British citizen has been accused of murdering an 11-year-old boy from the village of Lagoshevtsi, district of Vidin, the Interior Ministry's press office has announced.

The suspect has been named in Bulgarian media as David Branson or David Branson Ferguson.

Forensic reports indicated that the boy, named as 11-year-old Stanislav Mirchev, died of suffocation on the day he went missing, January 4. Police interrogated the victim's relatives, as well as residents in the village, including the British national, who has long-term resident status and has been living in a private property in Lagoshevtsi for five years. The British national was given a polygraph test, which he reportedly failed, and subsequently made a full confession.

The boy was reportedly going to bring food to an elderly man and passed close to the British man's house. The Briton said he heard his dog whining and thought that the boy was torturing the animal. The Scottish man then allegedly grabbed the boy on the neck and started strangling him. The man then allegedly dragged the boy to the fields and threw his body into a gorge.

Reports have claimed the boy's abandoned body had been mauled by wild dogs as it lay outdoors, with forensic tests later concluding he had been strangled after sexual activity. The suspect, however, has reportedly denied raping the boy.

Mayor Tihomir Toshev confirmed the suspect had lived in the area for around four years but said his name did not appear on the rural registry.

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said last night that the reported name of the suspect did not match that recorded on his original British passport, although his first name was confirmed as David.