Dark weekend for domestic violence in Spain with three dead

THREE women have died at the hands of their partners over the last 24 hours in Spain.

The first case occurred on Saturday night in the Madrid neighbourhood of Ciudad Lineal, where a man strangled his 55-year-old wife before attempting to kill himself with a knife.

After failing to do so, he called the police and confessed to his crime, before being admitted to hospital with chest and abdomen injuries and later transferred to police custody.

On Sunday morning the body of a 31-year-old woman was found lying face down in a pool of blood at an autism centre in Molina de Segura, Murcia.

Her 48-year-old co-worker and lover was discovered hanging in a separate room having committed suicide after stabbing her to death.

According to local press, she was the daughter of an ex-councillor and leaves behind a four-year-old son.

Also on Sunday, a 38-year-old Romanian woman was killed at her home in Collado Villalba, Madrid.

She had been gagged with tape and suffocated with a plastic bag, leading to the arrest of her 43-year-old Spanish husband.

A total of 30 women have now been killed in domestic violence incidents across Spain since the turn of the year.