Lebanese man sentenced to death for killing British embassy worker Rebecca Dykes

Tarek Houshieh had already confessed to 2017 killing

A man convicted of murdering British diplomat Rebecca Dykes has been sentenced to death, according to Lebanon’s state-run news agency.

Tarek Houshieh, a Lebanese national, had already confessed to the 2017 murder of the 30-year-old British embassy employee in Beirut.

Houshieh, an Uber driver, kidnapped Ms Dykes after she left friends at a bar in the Gemmayzeh district of the capital. Her body was found by the side of the highway just outside of the city.

A judge handed down the death sentence on Friday, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.

Lebanese judges routinely call for death sentences in cases of murder. But the country has an unofficial moratorium and has not carried out an execution since 2004, according to the monitoring group Human Rights Watch.

It is likely that Houshieh’s sentence will be commuted to life in prison.

Dykes had been working with the Department of International Development and as a policy manager at the British embassy in Beirut.

Her family described her as "genuine and loving".

"Becky had a love of travelling, and was passionate about helping people," they said in a statement following her death.

"She always wanted to make the world a better place – her humanitarian work in Beirut was testament to that."