JAILED: 70-year-old man who murdered his estranged wife for her pension

A MALAGA CITY court has sentenced a 70-year-old man to 15 years in prison after he was found guilty of murdering his estranged wife to receive extra pension payouts.

The court heard the man, a Danish national, had gone to the woman’s Fuengirola home on February 11 2016 at around 7pm. The two had been separated for about 20 years but were on good terms.

Prosecutors said the 70-year-old hit the woman over the head with a blunt object while she stood at the top of the stairs.

She fell down the stairs and the man attempted to remove evidence from the scene. He changed his clothes and deleted all calls and messages from his phone.

Prosecutors told the court the 70-year-old left her in body in such a position as to make it seem she had fallen accidentally. He then told police he had found her remains the next day while going to visit her.

The defendant maintained his innocence throughout the trial. At one point he said any financial gain from her death would never make up for losing his “best friend”.

The court heard police forensic experts called to the woman’s home to investigate her death found traces of blood at the top of the stairs.

They added her body was in an “abnormal” position that did not suggest she had fallen. The blunt object prosecutors said was used to kill her was never found.

The court also heard the woman had recently received money from the sale of shares and was drawing two pensions, one state and one private.

The defendant was drawing one pension worth around €750, significantly less than the victim’s earnings.

The court has ordered the 70-year-old to pay some €100,000 in compensation to the woman’s family. Prosecutors had originally requested a 25 year jail term for the defendant