Dutch businessman found murdered in Belgium

Dutch businessman Marcel van Hout was found dead in his home in Neerpelt, Belgium - just across the border near Eindhoven - on Wednesday evening. He was murdered, the police in the Belgian Limburg confirmed to Nieuwsblad.be. The Public Prosecutor is investigating the case.

Van Hout "died an unnatural death, but it is not certain that it was a crime", the 51-year-old Dutch man's lawyer, Bert de Rooij, said to newspaper AD. "It was not suicide, that was clear", the lawyer said.

According to the Belgian newspaper, the body was found by the victim's ex wife. He was lying in a large pool of blood with his throat slit. "The victim's ex-wife came walking up in tears on Wednesday evening", a neighbor said to Het Belang van Limburg. "She found him in his house. He lay on the floor in a pool of blood."

The victim was the owner of several companies, including the company Universal BV in Son en Breugel in the Netherlands, according to AD. The company sells construction equipment. He had two homes in Grote Heide, in the Belgian municipality of Neerpelt.

In the interest of the investigation, the Public Prosecutor cannot comment on the case.