The family of a Scot who was allegedly raped and beaten to death in Israel said a trip to the country to meet police has left them with "more questions than answers".

Deborah Pearson, whose niece Julie Pearson died in Israel on November 27, now believes police had a key opportunity to save the 38-year-old's life but failed to get her the hospital treatment she needed.

Ms Pearson, who was originally from Kinross-shire, died in the holiday resort of Eilat.

During her 14 months in Israel she had been beaten up by a boyfriend and friends have claimed there is evidence to suggest she was raped and beaten the night before her death.

She was found dying in a guest house and later pronounced dead in hospital.

The Pearson family were not notified of her death until three days later, via a friend, and have struggled to get answers from the police involved in the case since.

When Ms Pearson's body was returned to Scotland for burial her face, arms and torso were covered in bruises and there were fingerprint bruises around her wrists.

The Israeli authorities said a post-mortem was carried out before her body was released but the findings have never been shared with her family or made public.

Ms Pearson's aunt Deborah, who is acting on behalf of the family, believes police failed to question key witnesses staying at the guest house as well as a friend of Ms Pearson who claims she witnessed the beating before her friend's death.

She has already received support from MPs Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh and Hannah Bardell, who raised the matter at Prime Ministers Questions.

David Cameron has also written a lengthy letter to Ms Bardell regarding the case, assuring her that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office "will continue to raise the case with Interpol and the various Ministries to ensure that the autopsy report is released as soon as possible".

Deborah Pearson travelled to Eilat with two of Ms Pearson's cousins last week and spoke to a woman who confirmed police were called to the scene after Ms Pearson was beaten and took her away in their car.

The woman claimed instead of taking the seriously injured woman to hospital, they took her to a friend's house and told her to come into the police station the next day to report the attack.

However, Ms Pearson was found dying at the Dolphin Guest House the next evening and was pronounced dead in hospital.

Her aunt has interviewed the friend at length and recorded it in the hope it might be useful in a future investigation.

Ms Pearson said: "I had a meeting with the police when I went over. I had lots of questions for them but they only answered a few of them. They just kept saying that the investigation is ongoing, that's why they couldn't answer the other ones.

"One of them said that there is some kind of gagging order on this case. The police said they don't know why the post-mortem is taking so long.

"It's been more than three months now since it took place. Why can't they tell us how she died? Or even why it's taking so long to find out?

"I had a meeting with staff from the British embassy and Israeli lawyers while I was there too. We met the embassy staff in a cafe across from my hotel and a man was going up and down outside in a car shouting and swearing at us.

"I believe he was sent there by Julie's former boyfriend to scare us away. The embassy staff told me they didn't feel safe at the cafe and they didn't think I was safe there so we went to the police station and continued our meeting there.

"This happened on another occasion too when I was alone with my son. The same man and some others came over and started banging on our table and shouting.

"I was very frightened that something might happen to my son. I called the police again and reported it. This man was shouting very nasty things about Julie."

Another task that Ms Pearson was committed to carrying out while in Eilat was marking the site of her niece's death with a floral tribute from the family.

She visited the Dolphin Guest House and left flowers.

Ms Pearson added: "It was horrible being in Eilat and seeing the places that I had been with Julie during a holiday just months before. I can't help wondering why the police let her go?

"Her friend said she was complaining of a very sore head and she was covered in bruises. I wish they had gotten her to a hospital.

"Instead they told her to come back the next day to report the attack but was dying by then.

"I feel anger. The police have given me back the clothes she was wearing that night. It's all in sealed bags but is that not key evidence?

"I just can't trust anything I'm being told. I'm glad we went over but there are a lot more questions than answers now.

"The next stage is waiting for the post-mortem to be released and seeing what comes out of that but we have no idea when that will happen."