THE TRIAL has begun in Malaga, Spain, of an Irish man accused of killing his wife while on holiday in Marbella more than eight years ago.
Michael McArdle (39), from Dundalk, Co Louth, is said to have thrown his wife Kelly-Anne from the balcony of their fourth-floor room in the Melia Don Pepe Hotel on February 11th, 2000, after a row. Ms McArdle died from head injuries two days later.
In court yesterday, Mr McArdle, who was extradited from Ireland in 2005, admitted that he and his wife had argued over what he described as an innocent conversation with another woman when the family was out having dinner.
He denied prosecution claims that he killed her in a fit of rage. "We had a very good relationship and were very happy together. I did not kill her and she did not commit suicide," he told the court.
Mr McArdle said that the initial argument escalated when he tried to prevent his wife from going out on her own for a drink.
He told jurors that the couple failed to notice that one of their two young children, then aged three, had climbed on to the balcony of the room. "Kelly-Anne ran to pull him off but tripped and fell over the rail. She was hanging on with one arm and I managed to grab her and shout for help, but I couldn't hold on and she fell to the ground," he told the court.