Conmen's greed led to murder

Couple's dream of sunshine idyll

Under the Spanish sun, Jorge Real Sierra and brother-in-law Jose Antonio Velazquez Gonzalez won the O'Malleys' trust by posing as property salesmen.

But, in reality, they were ruthless conmen, whose greed led to murder - and ultimately to their own downfall.

Some time between 8 and 13 September 2002, the Venezuelans lured the couple into their trap with the promise of an upmarket villa at a knock-down price.

It was at this villa that the O'Malleys spent their last few days in terror.

The kidnappers rented the villa in the Baradello area of Alcoy, near Benidorm, and advertised it for sale in an English-language paper, The Costa Blanca News,

The O'Malleys quickly arranged to view the property, liking what they saw as the men who would later become their killers showed them around.

Deposit

The conmen told the unsuspecting couple to return with a deposit, planning to disappear with the money.

Later, however, the O'Malleys changed their minds and decided not to buy.

But they wanted to do what they felt was the right thing, and drove back to tell the "owners" they were not interested after all.

Realising they might not get their money, the men grabbed the O'Malleys, bound and gagged them, and locked them in the cellar.

It was the beginning of a horrendous ordeal which police say lasted at least five days.

During that time, the Venezuelans used Mr O'Malley's credit cards to go on spending sprees in small shops and hypermarkets in Benidorm and Alicante.

Several items bought were later returned and exchanged for cash.

Anthony and Linda O'Malley were killed as they met their killers a second time

On 13 September, the couple's ordeal came to a tragic end.

Mrs O'Malley was left tied up in the cellar while her husband was taken to Benidorm and forced to withdraw £18,000. On his return, his wife was dead.

Pathologist Salvador Giner concluded Mrs O'Malley had been struck three times, but the blows had not been deadly.

He told the Spanish trial: "This woman died of stress because of the experience she was put through," adding she had had an otherwise healthy heart.

With Mrs O'Malley dead, the killers could not risk letting her husband live.

Mr O'Malley's hands and feet were bound and his mouth gagged, while his killers suffocated him with a plastic bag.

Hostage negotiator

It may never be known whether a truncheon and electric prod - which police later found - were used to torture the couple.

The O'Malleys' bodies were buried and the cellar floor concreted over.

The killers took all the couple's possessions, shopping with their credit cards for several days until the banks stopped the cards.

But, in the full knowledge they were dead, one killer continued to try to profit - and it was that which led to their capture.

Police traced Real when, five months later, he sent emails and made calls to the UK offering himself as a hostage negotiator for £8,000.

Velazquez was arrested on 25 March, driving the O'Malleys' hire car, fitted with false number plates.

A police officer told their trial how Sierra was arrested while driving a grey BMW car.

Real reached for a bag on the front passenger seat of the vehicle, but stopped after officers put their guns to his head.

The bag turned out to contain a pistol, a false police badge, documents and other items.

Within hours of being arrested, Real took police to the villa, where firemen dug up the cellar floor.