Belfast woman arrested over man’s death in Canaries

A WOMAN from Northern Ireland has been arrested following the horrific death of a man on the holiday island of Gran Canaria.

Police held her as one of two suspects accused of strangling the 61-year-old wheelchair user and trying to burn his body.

The other man detained is aged 43 and, according to conflicting reports from authorities, is either a Spanish or Turkish national.

Spain’s National Police confirmed the woman lived on Gran Canaria and had no previous convictions.

However, they would not name her and would not say what the nature of the relation between her and the other suspect was.

Local media initially reported the woman was Irish, and sources close to the case later said she was from Belfast.

The gruesome murder happened on January 11, when the victim, a homeless Romanian who uses a wheelchair because his legs had been amputated, was strangled in an abandoned building in which he slept in San Bartolome in Tirajana in the south of Gran Canaria.

A police spokesman said: ‘He was strangled at the place where he used to sleep and then burnt after having accelerant poured over him.

‘An intense police investigation lasting two months has led to the identification of the suspected authors of the January 11 murder.’

A police statement said: ‘Officers armed with a search warrant raided the home of the two people under investigation and seized several items of clothing they are thought to have been wearing the day of the crime. They have been handed over to a judge for further questioning.’

Police said the suspects and the victim were known to each other. The pair were arrested last week and appeared in court on Friday.

Court sources said yesterday the arrested man was remanded in custody but the woman, described as his partner, had been released on bail pending an ongoing criminal investigation.

Police chief Jose Cabal said investigators believe it may have been a ‘revenge killing’ as the victim was involved in an ongoing court case with his suspected killer over a 2017 stabbing. news@dailymail.ie

‘Strangled where he used to sleep’