An estate agent who allegedly killed an elderly British woman at her Costa Blanca home two years ago claims to have suffered a “psychotic episode” at the time of the murder.
British widow Monica Warren, 80, was allegedly shot dead at her home in Elche, Costa Blanca, in May 2022 by a 48-year-old estate agent, whose name has not been publicly revealed.
The killer is said to have enlisted the help of his then 16-year-old son to move Monica’s body, which was found under her bed.
A plumber who had been called to the pensioner’s home to carry out an urgent repair raised the alarm after finding a pool of blood. He told emergency services he was concerned because he had seen two people wearing hoods leaving the pensioner’s home and driving away in a black Peugeot, who told him the British expat was ill and urged him to return the next day.
On the first day of her murder trial yesterday, the defendant is reported to have said she “lost her mind” and shot Ms Warren after seeing a “white silhouette” when she knocked on her door during torrential rain and was let in.
British widow Monica Warren, 80, was allegedly shot dead at her home in Elche, Costa Blanca (pictured) in May 2022 by a 48-year-old estate agent.
The murder took place in a housing complex in Elche, near Alicante on the Costa Blanca.
She also claimed that a “gray-haired” person who followed her everywhere had driven her crazy in the months leading up to the shooting.
The defendant alleged that her teenage son, who has also not been identified, was in her car outside when she shot Ms Warren and that she initially acted alone, although she later asked him to help her move her victim’s body while she was in a “state of shock”.
Prosecutors, who are seeking at least 28 years in prison for the alleged killer, have questioned her account, arguing the killing was pre-planned. Ms Warren had previously reported the theft of a .22-calibre Beretta pistol, believed to be the murder weapon recovered near the home, and which she was licensed to use as a firearms enthusiast.
A summary of the charges she faced, released ahead of the first day of the scheduled week-long hearing, said: ‘State prosecutors maintain she committed the crime alongside her then-minor son.
‘Both allegedly caused his death without giving him any chance to defend himself after shooting him three times and stabbing him with a knife on the left side of his chest.
‘The indictment states that hours later, in the early hours of the following day, the accused doused the car she had used to travel to the deceased’s home with petrol and set it on fire on a street in Alicante to get rid of evidence.
‘The flames spread and affected other parked vehicles.
‘The prosecution is provisionally requesting a sentence of 25 years in prison for the accused for the crime of murder and another three years for the crime of arson.’
Her trial was held separately from that of her son, which was due to start in June before he was tragically killed in a car crash a day before it was due to open, after losing control of his Mercedes convertible on the AP-7 motorway near Campoamor, south of the tourist resort of Torrevieja.
The accused of murder claims she had a ‘psychotic episode’ at the time of the murder
Police said they zeroed in on suspects after the mother’s car caught fire in Alicante, shortly after Ms Warren’s bullet-riddled body was found at her home.
The youth, who has not been identified and was on bail after an initial pretrial detention in a juvenile detention centre, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Prosecutors in the youth court are believed to have been seeking an eight-year prison sentence for the teenager if he was convicted of Ms Warren’s murder.
He died of cancer several years before the murder and she lived alone.
Ms Warren, who was born in Germany but became a naturalised British citizen through marriage, moved to Spain with her British-born husband John more than 20 years before she was murdered.
Mrs Warren’s friend Alan Benson, 70, who lived near her villa on a housing estate a short drive from Elche, revealed after her death that she had worked as a model in London.
He added at the time: “She was tall, but incredibly thin. You could knock her down with a feather. I don’t understand why they did it.”
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