Image source, MARISCAL/EPA
The man suspected of all four killings originally handed himself in last month after the three siblings’ bodies were found
A 42-year-old man facing trial for the murder of three elderly siblings in Spain is now alleged to have killed his cellmate in prison, reports say.
The suspect, identified as Dilawar Hussain F.C., was moved to Estremera prison outside Madrid last month.
He had allegedly confessed to killing two sisters and their brother in the nearby town of Morata de Tajuña.
The alarm was raised at the jail in the early hours of Thursday when a man was found dead in his cell.
Dilawar Hussain F.C., who is 42 and of Pakistani origin, had been sharing a cell with a 39-year-old man of Bulgarian origin, according to Efe news agency.
The man who died is understood have suffered several blows and his killing is now being investigated by police and forensic specialists.
The cell was in an area of Estremera prison known to house difficult prisoners and the cellmate had been assigned to keep an eye on him, sources told Efe.
The suspect was admitted to Estremera prison on 24 January, two days after handing himself into police.
The bodies of the three siblings – 67-year-old Amelia, Ángeles who was 74, and José Gutiérrez Ayuso, 77 – had been found days earlier after neighbours said they had not seen them leave their home in Morata de Tajuña for several weeks.
Spain’s civil guard said the suspect had been owed a large amount of money, which appeared to have arisen from the two sisters’ involvement in an online romance scam.
Ángeles and Amelia had reportedly been involved for years in online relationships with people claiming to be military men from the US, sending hundreds of thousands of euros to two men.
“We told them that it was all a lie, that it was a scam,” one friend called Enrique Velilla said, adding that they refused to admit it.
The sisters had then asked local people for financial help and Mr Husain told police he had lent them a large amount. He had lived in their home as a lodger for several months.
Investigators believe the two sisters and their older brother were beaten to death with an iron bar and their bodies were then partially burned in December.
Mr Hussain had served time in jail for hitting Amelia over the head with a hammer but he was released from prison in September.
