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There are fears a serial killer was responsible for four murders on Barcelona's deserted streets during the coronavirus lockdown.

The victims - all homeless and sleeping on the streets - were battered to death in the Spanish city's Eixample district in just over a month.

The latest victim, a 30-year-old man, was reportedly found bludgeoned with a hammer or bar less than 200 metres from Gaudi's famous La Sagrada Familia basilica on Monday night.

Police feared the suspected serial killer would strike again and teams of officers were already looking for him when a horrified witness called an emergency line and said: "A man is being beaten to death."

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(Image: Paco Freire/SOPA Images/Shutterstock)

Most of the killings occurred as Spain had one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 23,800 people in the country as of Tuesday.

A suspect in Monday night's killing, which occurred just minutes before midnight, has been arrested by Mossos d'Esquadra, Catalonia's police force.

The suspect is said to be a 35-year-old Brazilian national who lived in a caravan in a forest in Valldoreix, about 10 miles from the district where the killings took place, La Vanguardia reported.

He was arrested hours after the 30-year-old man was found with head injuries after being attacked with a bar, the report added.

Murder detectives are now probing whether the latest death is linked to the three previous cases.

Monday night's victim was killed with a hammer and the other three rough sleepers were all bludgeoned and found with head injuries, Telecinco reported.

(Image: Getty Images)

The first death happened on March 19 when a homeless man was beaten to death while sheltering in the doorway of a closed supermarket.

The second happened almost a month later on April 16 under the stairs of an entrance to the Municipal Auditorium, where a suspect was seen on CCTV.

It is said that the third, on April 18, was captured on CCTV.

Afterwards, police shared an image of a suspect with community patrols, who launched a manhunt.

Police believed the suspected killer would strike again, so they deployed about 30 officers to the district to look for him.

However, they were unable to stop Monday night's murder.

A horrified witness called an emergency line as it unfolded and told a call taker "a man is being beaten to death", La Vanguardia reported.

Officers rushed to the scene while others began scouring the empty streets, where they found a man walking with his hood up.

Police followed him as he took public transport to Valldoreix, part of the Sant Cugat del Valles municipality, and then continued to watch him.

He began acting "strange and suspicious" and was running around when officers decided to swoop in and arrest him, La Vanguardia reported.

A police spokesperson said: "Police officers of the Criminal Investigation Division have arrested a man following the death of a man last night in the Eixample district of Barcelona and are investigating a link with other homicides that have taken place in recent weeks.

"On Monday, the Mossos received a call at around 11pm that a person had been found seriously injured on the floor of a public road.

(Image: ALEJANDRO GARCIA/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

"The man was attended to by Emergency Medical System personnel, who pronounced him dead.

"Subsequently, as a result of the investigation, the Mossos d'Esquadra have arrested a man related to this death in the town of Sant Cugat del Valles.

"The detainee's relationship with the other deaths of people living on the streets in Barcelona in recent weeks is currently being investigated."

Spain has started to ease its Covid-19 lockdown after suffering one of the worst outbreaks in the world.

The country reported 301 new fatalities on Tuesday, down from 331 on Monday, as it emerges from its peak.

The overall death toll from the virus rose to 23,822 while the number of diagnosed cases rose to 210,773 from 209,465 on Monday.