A MAN has been remanded in custody in connection with the death of Irish woman Avril Flanagan (20) after appearing before a Spanish judge.
The examining magistrate ordered Alan Daulby’s detention in a local jail after a short hearing at a court in the coastal resort of Gandia near Valencia.
Mr Daulby (24) was arrested last Friday in Oliva after the discovery of Ms Flanagan’s body in a hotel in the Costa Blanca resort of Cabo Roig, 160km away. Ms Flanagan was from Dublin but had lived in Spain for about two years.
Mr Daulby, who is from Liverpool, has been told he will remain in custody until the murder investigation is complete.
The investigation, which will be headed by a judge based in the town of Orihuela in Alicante province, is expected to take several months. The short court hearing was closed to press and public.
A court source said yesterday: “The examining magistrate . . . has determined a few moments ago the immediate remand in prison of the man arrested last Friday in Oliva as the suspected author of the fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend, a young Irish girl, at an apart-hotel in Orihuela Costa.
“The magistrate has taken the detained man’s statement and has ordered his transfer to a penitentiary centre, where he will be held in custody. The case has now been handed over to a court specialising in domestic violence in Orihuela.”
Suspects can be held on remand in Spanish jails for months and even years without charge until judicial investigations reach their end. Formal charges are normally only brought shortly before trial.
Details of the postmortem have not been made public following a judicial decision to impose a secrecy order. This prevents police from officially making any further comment.