COSTA KILLERS JAILED; Family's relief at justice for dream house hunt couple.Byline: By TOM LATCHEM TWO men who kidnapped and murdered a Welsh couple hunting for their dream home in Spain were jailed for 116 years yesterday. Tony, 42, and Linda O'Malley, 55, vanished after answering a newspaper ad for a villa near Benidorm. Venezuelans Jorge Real Sierra and brother-in-law Juan Antonio Velazquez Gonzalez, who placed the ad, locked them in the house cellar, stole their cash then killed them. Real, 56, was jailed for 62 years and Velazquez, 40, got 54 years. Tony's tearful brother Bernard, 51, said: "It has been a really difficult four years and we are very pleased. This pair were cruel and vindictive." Real and Velazquez forced Tony, of Llangollen, Denbighshire, to give them pounds 25,000 from his bank. They also went on a spree with the couple's credit cards. They kept watch on the victims with a webcam. Tony was then strangled stran·gle v. stran·gled, stran·gling, stran·gles v.tr. 1. a. To kill by squeezing the throat so as to choke or suffocate; throttle. b. and it is thought his wife died from shock. Their bodies were encased en·case tr.v. en·cased, en·cas·ing, en·cas·es To enclose in or as if in a case. en·case  ment n. in concrete under the cellar in 2002, a court
in Alicante heard.
They were caught when Real, posing as a private eye, emailed asking the family for pounds 47,000 for information to release them. Linda's daughter Nicola Welch believes they would never have been found if North Wales police North Wales Police (Welsh: Heddlu Gogledd Cymru) is the Home Office police force responsible for policing North Wales. The headquarters are in Colwyn Bay, with divisional headquarters in St Asaph, Caernarfon and Wrexham. had not taken up the case. tom.latchem@mirror.co.uk CAPTION(S): VICTIMS O'Malleys' dream was home in sun |
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