Spanish police have confirmed Belfast man John George was shot dead on December 14 and announced they have completed their investigation into his murder.
Civil Guard officers have also appeared to rule out further arrests after revealing the evidence they have points to the two suspects being with the 37-year-old victim around the last time he spoke with his dad.
Suspected killer Jonny Smyth was extradited to Spain earlier this month after being arrested at an Airbnb in Braga in northern Portugal on March 25.
The first man arrested, a Czech national who has not been officially named, is on bail but still being investigated as an alleged accomplice.
Detectives had been tight-lipped about their probe, confirming only the two arrests and the discovery of dad-of-two John’s body in Rojales near Torrevieja on Spain’s Costa Blanca on January 7.
Today they released new video of property searches they conducted as part of their investigation and footage from the spot in an orchard where the victim’s body was found as they made their first detailed comments about the case.
They also said the main suspect abandoned his two pet dogs when he left Spain “in a hurry” with his girlfriend “to evade capture” after John’s dad Billy reported him missing.
A spokesman for the Civil Guard in Alicante said: “The Civil Guard has completed its investigation into the disappearance of a young Irish man in December last year following the arrest in Braga in Portugal in April and the subsequent extradition of the alleged material author of that man’s homicide.
“The victim’s body was found around two weeks after his father reported him missing and thought was in Benidorm visiting friends.
“Investigators found the body in Rojales near Torrevieja after an intense search of the area sparked by the fact they suspected the man’s disappearance was involuntary and believed the crime linked to it could have been committed there.
“Before the discovery officers had already managed to identify the two suspects. One of them was arrested the same day the body was found.”
Saying the police investigation began on December 21 when Mr George reported his son missing after flying to Spain from Northern Ireland to look for him, the force spokesman added: “Officers began a reconstruction of what could have happened from the moment the victim vanished after reaching Spain on December 6.
“They located people who had been in contact with him from that day and spoke to witnesses.
“The evidence they gathered pointed to the man found dead being with the two people who became the principal suspects around the time he last contacted his father.
“The first arrest occurred a couple of hours after the body was found, that of a Czech national aged 32 based in Torrevieja who is suspected of being an accomplice and is currently on bail.
“The Civil Guard continued after that with its work of locating the other suspect, the man believed to be the killer, who according to information gathered by investigators allegedly fled Spain after the homicide and following the reporting of his disappearance to police.
“He left the country in a hurry with his girlfriend, even abandoning his two pet dogs at his home in Orihuela on the Costa Blanca as he sought to evade capture.
“The Civil Guard requested the issue of a European Arrest Warrant for him and the cooperation of other police forces through Interpol and he was located in Portugal on March 25 and extradited to Spain on April 3.”
Although Spanish police did not formally name Smyth in a lengthy statement officers have described him as someone with “previous in his country of origin.”
It was not immediately clear if they were referring to him having a criminal record with convictions, or as being someone known to police because of previous arrests.
He has been remanded in custody pending an ongoing investigation led by a judge in Torrevieja.
The Civil Guard said: “The autopsy has revealed death occurred the night of December 14 from gunshot wounds, the same day the victim spoke with his father for the last time and a week before the dad reported him missing."
The video footage the police force released showed police removing tin foil wrapped-packages from an air conditioning vent during a property search.
It was not immediately clear which of the two suspects’ properties were being searched in the footage.
The defence lawyer of the man described as an alleged accomplice, the first individual arrested, has attributed the decision to detain his client to his “recent friendship” with Smyth.
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