The Foreign Office could not confirm the woman's identity but she was named in reports as 61-year-old Barbara Scott-Jones from Leeds.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We have been informed of the reported death of a British national and local consular officials have already been in touch with family members who are on the island.

"We understand the police are investigating the circumstances."

Jamaican police said it is believed she died from a fractured skull.

It is the first report of a tourist being killed in Jamaica this year.

More than 1,400 people were killed in Jamaica in 2007, including at least 19 police officers.