Lynette Lithgow

Lynette Pearson (1950 - c. 11 December 2001), known professionally as Lynette Lithgow), was a Trinidad-born, British-based newsreader and journalist who is best remembered for her career as a newsreader for BBC News.

Her first media job was as a broadcaster for Radio Television Brunei during the 1970s. During the 1980s, she moved to Britain and after working as a presenter for Midlands Today and continuity announcer for Granada Television, she moved to London as a newsreader for the national BBC News in 1988.

She joined the BBC's world television service on its launch in 1991 and also presented BBC 2's Newsview. Lithgow was the first BBC newsreader to announce the resignation of Margaret Thatcher around 9:45am interrupting an edition of People Today on 22 November 1990.

She quit the BBC in 1996 on gaining a law degree from Oxford University, and moved to the business news channel CNBC Asia (based in Singapore), where she worked until her death in Trinidad in December 2001.

She was murdered, along with her 83-year-old mother, Maggie Lee, and her British brother-in-law, John Cropper, at the family home in Port of Spain. The family had just enjoyed a tea party when bandits struck. The family was found with their hands bound and their throats cut.