Couple's dream of sunshine idyll

Conmen's greed led to murder

Linda and Anthony O'Malley were like millions of British couples who, after countless Spanish holidays, decided to retire in the sun.

On 31 August, 2002 the couple boarded a budget return flight from Manchester to Malaga, armed with details of properties for sale.

Little did they know of the nightmare that was to unfold in Spain.

The couple had led a comfortable life in Llangollen, north Wales where Mrs O'Malley, 55, ran a successful store.

Her 42-year-old husband had worked on second-hand cars before selling them on.

They had married in the late 1980s, after they met at the Burtonwood motorway services near Warrington, Cheshire, where they both then worked.

The kidnappers sent Mr O'Malley's passport and his wife's ring

Ten years later they opted for a quieter life and bought a house in the Horseshoe Pass - their home for four years before the set off to realise their Spanish dream.

After arriving in Malaga they hired a dark blue Fiat Stilo for the 300-mile drive to the Costa Blanca, on Spain's south east coast.

They booked into a hotel at Altea, along the coast from Benidorm, and on 1 September, they met estate agent Joanne Miles in the Melia Benidorm Hotel.

Ms Miles worked for Spanish Property Auctions, an Oldham-based company specialising in helping Britons buy houses repossessed by banks.

Savings bank

The O'Malleys, originally from Liverpool, told her they wanted a house in the hills, and she remembered them as "lovely, typical northern folk".

She arranged for them to get an NIE number, a document required if they were to buy a house at an auction.

She also took them to the Caja de Ahorras Mediterraneo (CAM) savings bank, where they opened an account with 350 euros on 2 September.

They later transferred 28,000 euros (then £21,000), from their account in the UK in case they needed to put down a deposit on a property.

My brother and his wife were a devoted couple Bernard O'Malley, brother

On 6 September, Ms Miles saw the couple outside their hotel.

Mrs O'Malley told her they needed her help in dealing with a five-bedroom property they were interested in seeing near the coast, on sale for just £18,000. They arranged to meet the next morning - but the O'Malleys never turned up.

With the exception of their killers, Ms Miles - who later became a close friend of the couple's family - was the last known person to see them alive.

Within days of that conversation with her, they had been kidnapped and their final ordeal began.

The alarm was raised after 13 September when the couple failed to show up at Manchester Airport where Mrs O'Malley's daughter, Jennifer Stewart, was waiting to meet them.

Thousands of UK nationals have bought homes in Spain

Their family immediately contacted North Wales Police and the case was given to Det Insp Nick Crabtree, who discovered the transfer of cash to the bank in Benidorm.

It was later confirmed that between 8 and 13 September, there had been unusual purchases on the couple's credit cards - so unusual the bank had stopped the cards. There were also large cash withdrawals

Interpol was informed, but Det Insp Crabtree heard nothing back from his Spanish colleagues.

After a week, the detective held a press conference at Wrexham, and the couple's mysterious disappearance was made public.

Days later, Spanish police confirmed they were investigating the disappearance.

Mr O'Malley's brother, Bernard, and Mrs O'Malley's daughter, Nicola Welch, were flown out to Benidorm to appeal for information.

Bernard O'Malley said: "My brother and his wife were a devoted couple.

The villa where the couple's bodies were found

"It is a complete mystery and we are very, very concerned for their safety."

Six months later, their worst fears were confirmed. Anthony and Linda O'Malley's bodies were found buried in the cellar of a villa in Alcoy, 12 miles inland from Benidorm.

But despite the killings, people in the tourist industry of southern Spain have said the area remains safe for UK visitors.

Santiago Alcazar of the Alicante Tourist Office said: "It's true some people come here without the best of intentions.

"But on the whole each year we only have one or two problems or incidents...This is a pretty safe place."

Marilyn Wheten, from Cardiff, who works for foreign property company Masa International, said it was important for people looking to buy property in Spain to receive expert help.

She said: "Don't go it alone is the message."