A 53-year-old man has been charged with the murder of a nurse and university lecturer who was found injured in the street in Plymouth.
Officers were called to West Hoe Road at 8.55pm on Wednesday after reports that a woman had been seriously injured.
Claire Chick, 48, was taken to hospital but died in the early hours of the next day.
Paul Butler, of Stangray Avenue, Plymouth, has been charged with murder and is due to appear at Plymouth magistrates court on Monday, Devon and Cornwall police said.
Claire Chick was described by family as ‘the most beautiful lively soul’. Photograph: Devon and Cornwall police/PAButler was located and arrested on Thursday in the Liskeard area of Cornwall, about 20 miles (32km) from Plymouth.
Chick, who was previously known as Claire Butler, worked as a lecturer at the University of Plymouth. A statement from the university on Friday said she was a nurse, lecturer and personal tutor, and was associate head of school for international in the university’s school of nursing and midwifery. She had been involved in developing nursing programmes in Europe, Africa and Asia.
In a previous statement released by police, her family said: “We are absolutely devastated and broken at the loss of our beautiful caring mother, Claire Chick.
“She was the most beautiful lively soul and was there for everyone. Everyone who knew our mum had so much positive words to say about her. She was the life and soul of any place where she was.
“She loved to dance and sing, even though she was pretty bad at it; she had no shame in doing it in front of any audience.
“We will never get over this as a family, she was our glue and our go-to. We won’t ever get the justice our mum deserves for this, because no amount of justice will bring her back.”
DI Rob Smith said: “We have specialist officers in place to continue to provide support to Claire’s family.
“Our investigation is ongoing, and I would like to thank the local community for their support whilst we have carried out our inquiries over the past few days.”