The South African honeymoon murder inquiry was embroiled in a race row after a top black policeman branded the victim’s South Asian millionaire husband a monkey

The extraordinary twist came as national police ­commissioner General Bheki Cele claimed Shrien Dewani arranged the hit on his bride two weeks into their marriage. He said: "A monkey came all the way from London to have his wife ­murdered here. Shrien thought we South ­Africans were stupid when he came all the way to kill his wife in our country. He lied to himself." There is fear that the words of General Cele, who is black, will fuel tensions between black South Africans and the country’s large South Asian community, which plays a key role in the nation’s economy. A friend of Dewani said the outburst showed there was little hope the 30-year-old care home owner would get a fair trial in South Africa. Dewani, from Bristol, is fighting extradition to South Africa after being accused of paying two hitmen to kill his wife Anni while the couple toured a township near Cape Town in a taxi. Zola Tongo, the taxi driver Dewani allegedly hired to organize his bride’s death, has been jailed for 18 years, reduced from 25 years after he implicated the Briton in the murder. Two other men, Xolile Mngeni, 23, and Mziwamadoda Qwabe, 25, face charges of murder, aggravated robbery and kidnapping.