DNA tests on Costa suspect

Tony King was questioned for 10 hours by Spanish police

A British barman suspected of murdering two teenage girls in Spain is undergoing DNA checks to establish whether he can be linked with sexual assaults in the UK.

Tony King, 38, was arrested in connection with the murders of two teenage girls - one killed last month and one in 1999.

He is being held in prison in Spain while police continue their investigations.

A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said the DNA sample was being taken for testing in order to confirm Mr King's identity.

"We're liaising with the Spanish police and awaiting confirmation of who this man is," she added.

Angry crowds

Mr King, originally from Holloway, north London, has been interviewed about the murders of 17-year-old Sonia Carabantes last month and 19-year-old Rocio Wanninkhof in 1999.

A spokeswoman for the foreign office said Mr King had so far refused consular assistance, but they would continue to monitor the case.

Dozens of onlookers hurled abuse at Mr King as he left the Civil Guard barracks in the small town of Coin, where Sonia was murdered and close to his home at Alhaurin el Grande.

Mr King was arrested after his girlfriend told police he had returned home on the morning Sonia disappeared, with bloody clothes and a scratched face.

There are also reports in Spain that he has admitted raping at least three other women in southern Spain in recent years.

A second man, 36-year-old Robert Graham, is still being questioned on suspicion of helping Mr King to cover up the murders.

Sonia disappeared on 14 August while returning home from a fiesta.

Her body was found five days later strangled, beaten and stripped but there was no evidence of sexual assault.

Rocio disappeared from her home in 1999 and was found strangled and left naked. She had not been sexually assaulted.

Investigating officers said DNA samples taken from Mr King's home matched DNA recovered in the two cases.

A family friend, Dolores Vazquez, was convicted of Rocio's murder in 2001 and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

But Spain's Supreme Court ruled the conviction unsafe and ordered a re-trial.