IT was meant to be their dream retirement – living in a lavish villa set amid the palms of Jamaica’s stunning Mount Pleasant.

But British couple Charlie and Gayle Anderson last week became the latest victims of a deadly trend sweeping the island, and their tortured remains were found just feet from their home.

We can reveal that hundreds of others who have moved back to the Caribbean paradise after living abroad have been killed for cash as part of a credit card scam.

Most who emigrated are wealthier than their countrymen and become instant targets.

Percival Latouche, who runs a group for returning islanders, told The Sun that he had been to 166 funerals since 2005 — ALL of them murdered returnees.

He said: “That is a horrifying number and it is just the ones where I have attended the funeral.

"There are dozens more.

"It is absolute carnage.”

Loved-ones of the Andersons, who were found burned and shot, are convinced they were executed because they raised the alarm after being targeted by a £50,000 credit-card scam.

Their niece Sharon Anderson, who lives on a small-holding three miles from the murder scene, said: “The fraudsters knew the police might be closing in on them.

“They killed them in the most barbaric way, just like animals.”

Having started their retirement project three years ago, everything was going well for the Manchester couple until Gayle noticed alleged fraudulent transactions on their credit card statements this year.

She hounded police in nearby Port Antonio about her suspicions but Sharon — who went to the station five times with Gayle over the allegations — says her aunt was frustrated because she wanted more done.

Eventually Gayle flew back to Manchester to pick up extra financial records, handing them to Jamaican cops three weeks ago.

Sharon, 58, told The Sun: “I believe they were murdered to keep them quiet.

"Plain and simple.

"Gayle was unhappy at the progress of the investigation.

"She felt something was holding it back.

“She was starting to get more and more anxious.”

Jamaican police would not say exactly how Gayle, 71, and Charlie, 74, were being scammed.

But credit-card fraud is rife on the island and local reports claim one of their overseas cards had been cloned.

Percival added: “What happened to the Andersons is sadly typical.

"The victims are shot, slashed, stabbed and then often burned.

“The killers prey on their victims almost from the moment they arrive back on the island.

"It is not random.

"These people are targeted.

“The motive is always greed and robbery.

"Often the killers will try to befriend victims, maybe offer to help them in some way.

“They try to learn their victims’ habits, try to get into their lives.

"They want money and they have no reservation about killing to get it.”

Last year Jamaica saw 1,616 killings, yet still welcomed 3.8million tourists, including 200,000 Brits.

So far this year more than 600 people have been killed, including seven returnees.

The Andersons — who married 55 years ago after Charlie emigrated from Jamaica as part of the Windrush generation — seem to fit the terrifying pattern.

A local man has been arrested on suspicion of the murders.

He was one of two held over the credit card investigation, said Assistant Commissioner Norman Heywood.

The second man is still being quizzed over the fraud.

From their HQ in the capital, Kingston, police told The Sun they have not ruled out contract killers.

In the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood the talk is of one of the local men who befriended the couple and helped with the house.

He became particularly close to Gayle, sources revealed, but vanished a few weeks ago.

The man, in his early twenties, was frequently heard to call Gayle “Mum”.

Sharon said: “Anything he asked for, Gayle would get him.

"He could get almost anything he wanted, she gave him a lot of things.

"They were very close.

“She was such a wonderful, kind and generous person.

"Gayle was so good to him and did behave like his mother.

"That’s what he called her.

“But when the financial investigations started, no one saw him any more.

"Suddenly the police had a picture of him and were looking for him round here.”

Others also noticed Gayle’s closeness to the man.

He often accompanied her to buy building materials for the house at the local construction merchant, where she would use a debit card.

Manager Linval Bell, 32, said: “They came in frequently together.

"I’d say he was with her for 90 per cent of her visits.

“They did seem particularly close, laughing and joking.

“We often heard him call her Mum.

"That stood out to us.

"Mrs Anderson was always the one who used the card to pay.”

Detectives were at the store’s head office this week, combing through Gayle’s most recent spending as part of the financial probe.

Police would not comment on the mystery man when approached by The Sun.

Sharon has firm views on what should happen to whoever killed her aunt and uncle once they are convicted and sentenced.

She said: “I hope the other prisoners hand out jungle justice in jail. I would hand it out myself.

“It is wicked what happened.

"When they catch who did this I hope they suffer like they made my uncle and aunt suffer.”

Builder Charlie’s tortured, shot and burned body was found more than 100ft from the house.

There was a trail of burned clothes between him and the building, indicating a terrifying failed bid to flee.

His clothes were scorched off and he had burns around the genitals.

Gayle, a former supermarket worker, was 20ft from the house with her clothing and all her hair scorched off.

Burned material was sticking to her body. Both had been shot at least once.

Neighbour Magna Campbell, who found Charlie, told The Sun: “It was a terrible sight.

"I called the police right away.

“But I was so shocked I had to collapse on to a pile of bricks, I felt so weak.

“It was a wicked deed.

"He didn’t deserve to die like that.

"He was killed just like a dog.”

The couple, who were also known as Halford and Florence, were building on land given to Charlie by his mother.

He also had another 80 acres containing banana and mango trees and coconut palms nearby.

They moved from the Gorton area of Manchester, where Charlie had worked in construction.

Neighbours there said he turned up in England as a young man with “just a satchel".

He met Gayle and the couple had two sons Mark, 53, and Glen, 54. But he always dreamed of returning home.

Friend John Corrigan, who lives next to the couple’s former home in Gorton, said: “It was their dream to move back to Jamaica and have their own home there.

“They saved all their lives and Charles built his dream home with eight bedrooms.

“They were a lovely couple who would do anything for you.”

In a statement, the couple’s sons said their parents were “pillars of the community” and “beginning the next chapter of their lives” on the island.

Their heartbroken granddaughter Stacey Anderson, 30, who works for Manchester United legend Gary Neville at the Class of ’92 university UA92, also appealed for information to catch those responsible.

Former England defender Gary, 43, tweeted that he was “so sorry” and “sending his love” to her — as Stacey begged for a breakthrough.

She urged anyone who might know the killers to “please, please speak to the authorities”.

Stacey added: “I know that you might be scared but reach out to them and tell them everything that you know.

“We know that you must know details.

"It’s a small community up there.

"Everybody knew my granddad and my grandma as well.

“They gave back to you. I know how much you all loved them so please, please bring these people to justice.”

Back in Jamaica, the Andersons’ dog was still standing a forlorn guard by the gates to the property late this week.

As Sharon popped round to feed it, she said: “They never gave him a name, I don’t know why.

“They adored him and now he stays put, almost like a vigil.

“He stands by the gate and looks out down to the road.

"I don’t know what will happen to him.”