Two Brits arrested following death of UK pensioner at Costa Blanca property

Two Brits have been arrested on the Costa Blanca following the death of a pensioner from the UK.

One of the detainees is the 38-year-old daughter of the 76-year-old woman who died. The second is a 73-year-old man thought to be a friend. The pair are accused of failing to call the emergency services after she fell in an accident at home. Police sources in Spain said the woman is believed to have suffered the fall three days before she died at the property in Rojales, near Torrevieja south of Alicante.

Civil Guard investigators suspect they failed to make an earlier 999 call because they were drinking heavily and under the effects of alcohol. They have insisted to police they raised the alarm in the early hours of Tuesday morning after realising the unnamed pensioner was dead.

The ongoing investigation is being treated as a manslaughter caused by omission. It was not immediately clear on Tuesday evening if the dead woman had also been drinking before the fatal fall. Civil Guard officers in Alicante are expected to make an official comment later this week, once the two suspects have appeared in court for a remand hearing. The man being held is believed to be a friend of the female pensioner, but it is not known if he lived in the property.