A HOTEL manager was knifed to death following a row at Oxfordshire’s leading golf club.

The 32-year-old suffered horrific neck injuries and died before paramedics could get to him at The Oxfordshire Golf Club in Milton Common, near Thame, on Saturday afternoon.

Jonathan Limani, 33, from Rycote Lane, Thame, will today appear before Oxford magistrates charged with murder.

Det Chf Insp Steve Tolmie said the victim – who has not been named but came from the village of Stone near Aylesbury and worked at the golf club – had been involved in a dispute at the ‘goods in’ area behind the £6m hotel.

Mr Tolmie confirmed the man suffered from at least four knife wounds to the neck, but was not willing to comment on the extent of those injuries.

He said: “This type of incident is very rare, it was all self contained within the hotel and it appears to have been an argument.

“No other party was involved and no one else was put at risk.

“The staff at the hotel are quite shocked and I know that the hotel is arranging support for their staff.”

We understand a wedding party and golfers were evacuated from the site in Rycote Lane, after about 20 police officers were called to the scene at about 3pm.

Golfer Russell Emmett, of Stokenchurch, said he had been asked to leave the course at 6pm.

He said: “We teed off at about half past two and it had got to about 6pm when we were suddenly asked to leave.

“There was a wedding party there too and they were asked to leave, so we got the impression something had gone off big time.

“There were police everywhere.

“My friend later told me there had been a murder in the kitchen.”

A spokesman for the Oxfordshire Golf Club, which is managed by Leaderboard, declined to comment.

The Oxfordshire Golf Club, near Thame, is one of the most prestigious clubs in the country, hosting the Benson and Hedges International Open until 1999.

It opened in 1993 and is listed 93rd in the top 100 golf courses in the world.

As part of major expansion plans, work on the £6m, 50-bed hotel has recently been completed.

Thame town councillor and South Oxfordshire District councillor David Bretherton said: “It’s not the sort of thing you would expect in and around Thame.

“The golf club is a pretty ‘elite’ place.”

Sheila Guinnane, who runs the Red Lion in Longwick, near the golf course, had not heard about the incident.

She added: “How terrible, it’s so close to home.”