Two charged in missing expat case

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Two people are being held in Spain in connection with the murder of a Kent man who was last seen two years ago and whose body has never been found.

Lorna MacDonald, from Madrid, and George White, of La Linea, have been charged with assisting an offender.

A 29-year-old has already been accused of killing British expat Francis Ottley, 56, originally of Dover, who travelled around Spain in a coach.

Unemployed Stuart Martin, of Brighton, denies murder and faces trial in July.

Mr Martin, of Bramble Way, Hollingbury, pleaded not guilty to the charge at Maidstone Crown Court last November.

The arrests on Wednesday of Ms MacDonald, 32, originally from Glasgow, and Englishman Mr White follow a joint inquiry by Spanish police and Kent officers.

Inquiry abroad

Police searches for Mr Ottley, who lived in Kent until 2003, began after his friends in the UK received a letter in April 2005 saying he had been missing since February.

Detectives' investigations in the UK and abroad led them to conclude Mr Ottley had been murdered.

Unlike UK law, there is no precedent in Spain for prosecuting in the case of a murder where the body has yet to be found.

But it is possible to prosecute in the case of the murder of a British citizen by a British citizen under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.