A British mother has been stabbed to death at her home in Spain while her three young children were in the property.
Victoria Hart, 33, a hairdresser in the expat haven of Alhaurin el Grande in Andalusia, was found lying next to a knife. Her 11-year-old son is said to have run from the house to raise the alarm. Her six-year-old twin daughters were also inside the house at the time of the attack.
Neighbours in the inland working town, which is a 30-minute drive from Malaga, called police after hearing screams at about 11.40am on Saturday.
According to a neighbour in the residential complex, the children ran out into the communal garden asking for help, and the son allegedly called his grandmother to tell her that “his father had killed his mother”.
A man said to be Hart’s estranged husband has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Juan Antonio Rueda, who ran a chicken rotisserie in the town, allegedly handed himself in at a local prison and told staff: “Arrest me, I’ve done something very bad.”
According to Malaga Hoy, a local newspaper, he told prison workers that three children had been inside the house where the killing took place, adding: “I lost my mind.”
Hart, who ran a beauty salon from her home, had lived in Spain with her mother and sister since she was a teenager. She met her Spanish husband in 2011 and married him in 2017.
Hart moved to Spain as a teenager
They had three children together but locals said they separated several months ago and the husband is said to have had a restraining order preventing him from approaching her.
Hart was registered on the VioGen system, created in 2004 as part of a Spanish law against gender violence, but her case was said to be classified as low-risk. Neighbours said Rueda maintained contact with his children and had occasionally picked them up from the house.
A British expat in the town told The Times: “It’s a small town up here and living in Spain the expat community is close. We all know of each other.
“Their marriage had broken down and he was quite violent and there was a restraining order. There was some kind of argument the neighbours heard on Saturday and she ran out in the street bleeding and then went back into the house and died. I don’t know what the kids saw.”
Hart’s town declared a day of mourning on Monday
Inez Robinson, a local, said Hart was “a very well-respected and loved member of the community who unfortunately fell for an inadequate man who had to shine by drowning out her light”.
Women’s rights groups in the area have organised a protest in Malaga city on Monday against domestic violence.
A spokesman for the Civil Guard in Malaga said an investigation had been opened, adding: “Her ex-partner has been arrested as the alleged killer.”
Alhaurin el Grande town council released a statement expressing its “deepest sorrow” and its “absolute rejection and condemnation of this act of gender-based violence, a social scourge that seriously violates human rights and which we must eradicate with the involvement of the whole of society”.
The mayor declared Monday a day of mourning “as a sign of respect and solidarity”.
Jane Naughton, a friend, said Hart’s life had been “robbed” from her and her “lovely family” at a time when she was “bright, happy and looking forward to the future”.
“Love should never hurt, you should never have had to go through what you did for so long,” she wrote online. “But you did, and held your head up, thinking of your wonderful kids and your family first, getting him out of your lives.
“What a wicked, evil thing to happen. We will all miss you terribly Victoria, many lives will never be the same again. It’s just so unfair.”