New clues in hunt for on-the-run killers of Shropshire border couple in Spain
The hunt for one of the brutal killers of Llangollen couple Linda and Anthony O'Malley, who has been on the run for almost three months, is understood to be concentrated on the Valencia region in south east Spain.
Jorge Real Sierra, now aged 65, had been allowed out on a special six-day temporary release from a Granada prison in February, but failed to return. An arrest warrant was issued in March by the Provincial Criminal Court in Alicante and police launched a nationwide search for him.
It is understood that Guardia Civil officers believe that Sierra may be hiding in the Valencia area where he, and his brother-in-law Antonio Velazquez Gonzalez, were living when they were arrested more than 12 years ago.
In 2006 the two Venezuelans were jailed for the kidnap, torture and killing of the O'Malleys who had been house hunting in Spain. Sierra was jailed for 62 years and Gonzales, now 50, was sentenced to 54 years. Linda, 56, a manageress at an Ellesmere Port store, and Anthony, 42, a car restorer, had travelled to Spain in September, 2002, and were last seen in the Benidorm area by an estate agent.
The unsuspecting couple's search for a retirement home in the sun turned into a nightmare when they were fatally lured to view a villa in the town of Alcoy, north of Alicante.
The O'Malley's were held, bound and gagged, for almost three weeks in the basement of the property, while their kidnappers systematically emptied the couple's bank account of their £20,000 life savings.
