Police are treating as double murder the killing of 77-year-olds Peter and Jean Tarsey, found at their villa near Benidorm on Sunday

Two British ex-pats, including a former Olympic diver, have been found shot dead in their three-bedroomed home in Xaló near Benidorm in south-east Spain.

The retired couple, both aged 77 and named by Spanish police as Peter and Jean Tarsey, were discovered after friends who had lunch with them every Sunday raised the alarm.

Peter Tarsey is said to have represented Britain as a diver at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics as well as competing in two Commonwealth Games, winning a bronze medal in 1958.



Police found the couple on the sofa, each with various gunshot wounds from a small calibre weapon. “Some of their friends became worried and called police to go look for them when they were not able to reach them,” said a spokesman for the local Guardia Civil. Some reports claim they had been shot in the head.

A postmortem examination is being carried out but the case is being treated as murder. The couple had two grown-up sons Alexei, said to live in London, and Sascha who lives in Palma de Mallorca.

There were no signs of a break-in and while one theory was that it was a robbery that had gone wrong, there were conflicting reports as to whether anything was missing from the chalet.

There were reports that a TV had been stolen and a computer was found in the swimming pool but also that the couple’s valuables were still where they were kept in a safe.

The couple were discovered at 4.15pm on Sunday. The case has been placed under “sumario secreto”, meaning the police will not comment further at least until the postmortem has been carried out.

Susan Keightley, a neighbour in Spain, is quoted on a number of media websites as saying the couple had been trying to sell their home in order to live nearer Sascha. They are believed to have put their home up for sale for €230,000 last February.



Describing the “lovely couple”, she said: “They had been burgled a couple of times, once at Christmas, about 10 years ago, and also before that one summer. But that was a long time ago and not something they were particularly worried about recently.”

She added: “They put the house up for sale because they were hoping to move to Majorca to be nearer their son Sascha and their grandchildren.”



Keightley said Peter Tarsey usually went by his middle name David. “He had been an Olympic diver and a few years ago, we used to dive into their swimming pool from the garden wall.

“He was an engineer back in the UK and had sold his business when they moved to Spain.”



Jean Tarsey worked for local charities including one looking after abandoned dogs, said Keightley. “They have a little black and white mongrel dog called Domino who I believe was still in the house when the bodies were found.”

According to Joan Miquel Garcés Font, the mayor of Xaló, the couple had lived in the area for about 18 years and were well known locally.

He told the Spain Report website: “At first the Civil Guard thought it was domestic violence, but they told me this morning they had ruled out both domestic violence and suicide. They are looking for a third person as the attacker.”

“The local police told me [the Tarseys] ate lunch every Sunday with some English friends, who were waiting for them yesterday. When they didn’t show up, the friends got worried and called the police.

“It’s a very strange feeling because nothing like this has ever happened here before. We all know each other, it’s very strange.”

Both of the sons have been informed of the incident. A minute’s silence was held at the local town hall.

Some 28% of the 2,700 permanent residents of Xaló are British.



