Janet Gilson, 64, had been in the city since March 5 for a holiday.
Her body was found in the flat of her niece on Lamma Island on Saturday, three days after she was reported missing.
According to Hong Kong English daily The Standard, a 20-year-old man appeared before Eastern Magistrates’ Court today charged with her murder.
He is reportedly the estranged husband of Gilson’s niece, Julia Fareed.
The police have not confirmed the man’s identity but said he was an “expatriate”.
A police spokeswoman told the Agence France Presse news agency: “We cannot confirm it because we don’t have that information. We just know that he is not local, he is not from Hong Kong.”
Gilson was a retired Salvation Army major from Leigh-on-Sea in Essex.
More tests are due to be carried out to establish the cause of her death.
