One person has died, two others suffered burns and more than 4,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes today as a wildfire fanned by strong winds devoured hillsides around the luxurious southern Mediterranean resort city of Marbella.

Some 4,000 people were evacuated from their homes as a wildfire fanned by strong winds spread rapidly through hills around the popular southern Spanish tourist city of Marbella.

A British man was today convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering a Spanish teenager in 2003 and sentenced to 36 years in jail.