Men arrested in Spain over attack on British woman

Men arrested in Spain over attack on British woman



Three men have been arrested in Spain after a British woman was beaten, tied up and sexually assaulted during an attempted robbery near a holiday resort.

The 52-year-old woman, from Southampton, Hampshire, was dragged from a swimming pool area at a home in the village of Gea y Truyols near La Manga in south-east Spain, on May 20 last year.

A gang of three hooded men then forced their way in to the home she was sharing with her sister and took her from room to room, beating her as they demanded money and jewellery.



She was then tied-up and sexually assaulted. But the trio fled when her sister suddenly arrived back at the house, inland from the upmarket resort of La Manga, in the province of Murcia.

They took the sister's car to escape and it was later found abandoned less than a mile away.

The three men now arrested by investigators from the paramilitary Civil Guard are two Spaniards and an Ecuadorean.

They face charges of robbery with violence and intimidation and sexual aggression, which under Spanish law covers all types of sexual assault including full rape.



Two of the accused are already in prison on remand for other alleged crimes.

The third, who was just a few days away from his 18th birthday at the time of last year's attack and thus then still a minor, has been released on provisional liberty after depositing bail money to an investigating judge's court.

The victim, who had been living in Spain with her sister, decided to leave the country following her experience.