A handyman accused of murdering a 74-year-old British expat was allegedly flogging her belongings.
Francisco Javier Becerra, 45, reportedly beat Lesley Anne Pearson to death after a row over money and buried her in a shallow grave behind her property.
Her body was found in Algar, near Cadiz in south-west Spain, on Sunday nearly a fortnight after she was last seen.
During a court appearance in Arcos de la Frontera yesterday, Becerra is said to have confessed to killing her.
A police source told the Mirror he said it was done in a “fit of rage”.
But a local named only as Antonio told newspaper La Voz de Cadiz that Becerra told villagers Lesley had sold her home to a Romanian family and had started selling off her belongings.
He also said Becerra – believed to have worked for Lesley as a maintenance man – claimed she gave him permission to sell her things too.
But a friend of the expat told the same paper the house had not been sold, fuelling speculation she found out what Becerra was doing and confronted him.
Civil Guard officers held Becerra the day her body was found in woodland behind her home and held him for two nights ahead of his court appearance.
A spokesman for the investigating judge said: “[The court] has today, at the request of state prosecutors, ordered the remand in prison of the man arrested over the death of the woman whose body was found on Sunday in Algar.
“The court is investigating the man on suspicion of a crime of homicide and he has acknowledged the facts.”
Burly Becerra looked impassive as he was led away to prison in handcuffs by four police officers after the hearing.
Lesley, a masseuse and pilates teacher from the North West of England, lost husband Frank, an electrical engineer, in a car accident three years ago.
A police search kicked off when she was reported missing last Wednesday, although it is believed she was last seen on July 11.
Source: Read Full Article