Spanish detectives said yesterday they were "baffled" by the murder of a 45-year-old British woman with Irish family connections.
Mrs Eileen Mulvihill's body was found half-hidden under shrubs in the grounds of an apartment complex in Mijas Costa, in southern Spain. The complex consists of some 500 apartments and chalets, many of them owned by Irish and British visitors.
Spanish police said Mrs Mulvihill had previously lived in Manchester and was married with two daughters, aged seven and 21.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said reports that Mrs Mulvihill was Irish were incorrect, and the Spanish police were liaising with the British authorities. A spokesman for the Department said they believed her husband, Roger, is Irish.
The couple had been living in the resort of Fuengirola, some miles from where her murder took place, for the past three years. Mrs Mulvihill ran a successful estate agent's office dealing with foreigners who wished to buy property in southern Spain.
Her body was discovered near the gates of the Calypso estate when police arrived after receiving an anonymous phone call at 10.30 a.m. on Thursday.
A Civil Guard officer in Fuengirola said Mrs Mulvihill had been attacked from behind by someone who held her round the neck in an arm lock and stabbed her in the chest, arms and hands. There were signs of a struggle at the scene of the crime.
The dead woman was wearing only a bathing costume at the time of her murder and detectives have no clues as to why she was at the complex or the motive for her killing. They say it is unlikely that robbery was the motive as her handbag, containing money and some jewellery, was untouched. A Spanish woman whose apartment overlooks the Calypso gardens told police she heard screams about half an hour before the body was found. Mr Mulvihill went to the mortuary to identify the body but left immediately afterwards. There are two entries in the local telephone directory in Mrs Mulvihill's name. But there was no reply yesterday from either her home or her office.
Police are refusing to give any more details as the examining magistrate has declared the case confidential until his investigations are complete.