British couple may have been murdered in property scam

A BRITISH couple feared murdered while house-hunting in Spain may have been killed by South American fraudsters involved in a property scam, it was suggested yesterday.

Tony and Linda O’Malley, of Llangollen, north Wales, went missing last September while looking for a holiday home in Benidorm.

Spanish police found two bodies in the basement of a house in the El Baradello area of Alcoy, near Benidorm on Tuesday.

The identities have yet to be confirmed but they are thought to be Mr and Mrs O’Malley, who were aged 42 and 55.

The discovery came the day after four Venezuelans, two men and two women, were arrested in Alcoy.

Danny Collins, news editor of the Costa Blanca News, said the Venezuelans may have been trying to con the O’Malleys by acting as bogus estate agents.

He said: “We understand that Mr and Mrs O’Malley were here to buy a property at auction, which is very difficult because they are normally snapped up by professionals.

“They may have become frustrated and started asking around, which is when they will have run into these Venezuelans.

“There are low-lifes here who hang around bars and target people who want to buy property.

“There is a scam where the idea is to show people around a property that you don’t actually own, get a cash deposit and then scarper.

“It may have been that Tony O’Malley, who was a pretty sharp guy by all accounts, refused to fall for this and things have turned nasty when he refused to hand over the cash.

“We believe that’s what happened, but it has not been officially confirmed,” said Mr Collins.

North Wales Police were this morning unavailable for comment.

On Tuesday night they released a statement which read: “There have been developments, the full details of which are still being communicated.

“The Spanish police are leading a murder investigation and north Wales Police are assisting the investigation.”

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office could only confirm that two bodies had been found and four people were under arrest in Spain.

Immediate members of the O’Malley family yesterday refused to comment on the discovery. Mr O’Malley’s sister-in-law Georgina O’Malley said: “We are still trying to come to terms with what has happened.”