Murder suspects used O'Malleys' car

<a href=icwales.icnetwork.co.uk>Read on> Mar 27 2003 The Western Mail - The National Newspaper Of Wales

PEOPLE arrested in Spain on suspicion of murdering a couple from Wales had been using the couple's hire car under false registration plates, it emerged yesterday.

Two bodies exhumed at a chalet near the Costa Brava this week have been confirmed as Tony and Linda O'Malley, right, from Llangollen.

The chalet's floor was excavated the day after two couples from Venezuela were arrested on Monday.

The Fiat hatchback hired by the O'Malleys last August was never returned.

Police found it this week near the apartments where they arrested the suspects.

The O'Malleys flew to Spain last summer to search for a chalet to buy but disappeared before they were due to fly back to Manchester airport on September 13. Their relatives believe they were the victims of a con-trick by bogus chalet sellers which went wrong when the O'Malleys refused to hand over a large sum of money.

Danny Collins, news editor of the Costa Blanca News, said yesterday, "We understand that Mr and Mrs O'Malley were hoping to buy a property at auction, which is very difficult because the properties 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 turned nasty when he refused to hand over the cash.

Spanish firefighters dug through layers of brick and soil to recover the bodies at the chalet near Benidorm.

Family who owned chalet where the graves found had fled in September