A man shot and stabbed in Marbella played a key role in a robbery which killed jeweller Marian Bates 15 years ago.
Craig Moran was sentenced to 13 years in prison for his part in the fatal raid on the Time Centre in Arnold.
He had kept watch on the shop in Front Street for 24 hours before the robbery on September 30, 2003, and had also been in the getaway car, reports Nottinghamshire Live .
Now he has been hospitalised after an attack in Marbella in which he is believed to have been kneecapped, stabbed, and cut on both sides of his mouth – a wound known as a ‘Glasgow smile’ or ‘Chelsea smile’.
Following the attack the 35-year-old was taken to the Costa Del Sol Hospital in the coastal resort in the early hours of Sunday morning, September 9.
Sources close to the investigation said he had suffered multiple injuries, including broken bones in his lower body.
Investigators are working on the theory he was tortured as part of a ‘warning’ by members of a crime gang.
He is thought to have been targeted after arriving in Marbella the same night, and may have been tricked into meeting his attackers. As of Thursday no arrests had been made.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "Our staff provided advice and support to the family of a British man following his hospitalisation in Spain, and are in contact with the Spanish authorities.”
Mr Moran, of Raymede Drive, Bestwood Estate, was 22 when he was jailed back in 2005 after being found guilty of conspiring to rob The Time Centre.
He had said that the day of the murder was his partner’s birthday and he had been at home with her. But mobile phone records showed the couple spoke to each other several times.
The Court of Appeal later rejected an appeal by Mr Moran that his sentence of 13 years was too long.
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Jeweller Marian Bates, 63, was fatally shot during the course of the robbery, which was actually carried out by Peter Williams and another man thought to be James Brodie.
Two men burst into the shop at lunchtime and demanded thousands of pounds worth of jewellery.
Mrs Bates refused and, with her husband, Victor, and daughter, Xanthe, put up a struggle. As Mrs Bates tried to fend off the men, one of them shot her with a pistol.
The man believed to be Brodie shot her at point-blank range as she tried to protect her daughter Xanthe.
Williams, 19, was later found guilty of Mrs Bates’ murder and given life with a minimum of 22 years.
Brodie has never been found and is thought to have been killed by a criminal associate.
The haul which cost Mrs Bates her life — two rings, one pendant and three pairs of earrings — was worth just £1,120.
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