A mother bled to death when she fell over her handbag on to a glass in a Spanish bar, a coroner heard.

Expatriate Sally Feeley was enjoying a late-night hot chocolate with friends when she tripped over her handbag in a freak accident in Malaga.

The 42-year-old hairdresser fell back onto a table with one glass, which shattered and pierced her left armpit severing an major artery.

Friends frantically battled to stem the bleeding but Ms Feeley, who lived on the Costa del Sol with her 12-year-old son, died in hospital.

The inquest into her death heard from the dead woman´s friend Karen Thornton, who also lived in Spain.

She said” Three of us had gone out for a few drinks and by the time of the accident we were drinking hot chocolate.

“We were also chatting to an elderly couple who were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary.

“Sally stood up to say goodbye to somebody, but she tripped over a handbag and fell back onto a table with one glass.

“The glass smashed when she fell. I thought she would get up, but she did not. Everybody tried to stem the bleeding.”

Following the accident last October, a post-mortem examination was carried out in Spain, which found the 7cm cut severed a major blood vessel running under her armpit.

Birmingham´ assistant Deputy Coroner, Michael Snell, said: “I record that Sally Ann Feeley died as a result of an accident.

“She tripped and fell backwards onto a glass and received a severe stab injury. She died from a haemorrhage received from a laceration to the left armpit.”

Ms Feeley lived with her 12-year-old son Shea in Nerja, on the Costa del Sol.

The hairdresser had moved to Spain from Birmingham six years earlier.

Her brother, Steven Feeley, said: “She was very outgoing and very popular in Birmingham and Spain.

“She was a really nice girl. She´d do anything for anybody. She was really kind and considerate.

“The most important thing in her life was her son,” said Mr Feeley.

via Mother bleeds to death after tripping over handbag and landing on drinking glass | Mail Online.

A 19-year-old man was gored to death during a bull run early yesterday in a small town in northern Spain.

The bull run began at 3am local time with the release of the animals through the streets of the town of Fuentesauco in the province of Zamora.

The man, from the Madrid region, was gored in the chest about 90 minutes later and was pronounced dead at the local health center shortly afterwards, a source at the clinic said.

The bull run was one of several planned as part of a local festival, which began on Friday and was to continue until Tuesday.

All further events scheduled for Saturday were canceled following the accident.

During a bull run crowds race ahead of a pack of thundering bulls along a course through urban streets to the town bullring where a bullfight is staged.

Spain´s most famous annual bull run begins on July 6 during the San Fermin festival in the northeastern town of Pamplona.

A 27-year-old man was killed during last year´s San Fermin festival after he tripped and was gored in the neck.

via Teenager gored to death in Spanish bull run | Herald Sun.

Construction workers in the northern Spanish city of Vitoria made the grizzly discovery of mass graves containing what are believed to be the bodies of French soldiers who were stationed there hundreds of years ago.

More than 100 skeletons have been discovered so far, neatly lined up and placed in layers in six mass graves.

“In our initial estimation, pending laboratory tests, all signs point to these being the graves of French soldiers stationed in the town in the early 19th century or late 18th century,” local culture official Lorena Lopez de la Calle told Spanish media.

According to Javier Bordagaray, from the archaeological museum in Alava province, the remains were most likely from the War of the First Coalition (1793-1795), the Peninsular War (1808-1813) or the First Carlist War (1833-46).

However, he said carbon dating could put them back as late as the 16th century.

Bordagaray said the skeletons showed no signs of violent death and were covered by lime, suggesting they had died from disease.

via Skeletons of French Troops Discovered in Spain.

Renowned fashion designer Ritu Kumar is set to be honoured in Spain for her contribution to the fashion industry.

Casa de la India, the Indian cultural centre in Spain will pay tribute to Kumar along with Spanish fashion designer Elyo Berhanyer in Valladolid de Moda Fashion Week to be held in Madrid and Valladolid next month.

She will be showcasing 10 Indian garments with intricate designs along with a range of metallic embellishments, which are a part of Ritu Kumar Couture Collection.

Kumar will also be taking part in the first India-Spain Fashion Professionals Meeting in Madrid, which aims at providing a platform to discuss a common commercial cooperation, industrial, cultural and educational strategy between the two countries in the fashion industry.

'The honour conferred on me by announcing it as a ´homage to an Indian designer´; is a welcome sign of India´s fashion reach in the world of fashion. I am happy to be a part of the first Spain-India fashion interaction and will be showcasing a line rich in Indian craft at the venue in Spain,' she said in a statement.

Kumar will be joined by designer Jivi Sethi and others from Indian Institute of Fashion Technology in Spain.

via Spain to pay tribute to designer Ritu Kumar.

British man wanted for the murder of a Surrey mother last month has been arrested in Spain after being identified by his unusual tattoos.

David Baxendale, 39, was pictured in a Crimestoppers appeal earlier this month after authorities believed he could be hiding out in Spain.

He was sought by Surrey police investigating the murder of Sarah Thomas, a 38-year-old mother of three who was found stabbed to death at her home in Nutfield on 10 May.

Police discovered he had boarded a cross-channel ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo in France the day after the murder and believed he was heading south to Spain.

The appeal described Baxendale as a “white, about 5ft 7in tall, slim with blue eyes,” and said: ” he may walk with a limp.”

But it was the detailed description of his body art that led to his arrest on the Costa del Sol in the early hours of Monday morning.

“He also has a scar on his scalp, tribal tattoos on each shoulder, a dragon tattoo on his right upper arm and a scorpion tattoo on the left side of his chest,” said the appeal issued by Crimestoppers.

A British person recognised the tattoos when they came across Baxendale drinking in a nightspot in Fuengirola near Malaga on Sunday night and alerted local police.

He was arrested and is in custody pending extradition back to the UK.

via British fugitive arrested in Spain after tattoos recognised – Telegraph.

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England women drew with Spain to move within touching distance of a place in the play-offs for the 2011 World Cup.

Hope Powell's team recovered from a two-goal deficit thanks to late goals by Rachel Unitt and captain Faye White.

Adriana Martin put Spain ahead with a low drive and Sonia Bermudez added a second after the break.

But left-back Unitt pulled one back late-on with a cross that fooled keeper Ainhoa Tirapu and skipper White levelled at the death.

England now need to win one of their final two group games – against minnows Turkey and Austria – to top the group.

After the match in Aranda de Duero, manager Powell said: “In the first-half we were shocking, we were on the back foot and had to claw our way back.”

Incredibly, England had done exactly the same to draw 2-2 in Zamora in 2008 to qualify for last year's European Championship, at which they reached the final before losing to Germany.

“There was a lot more fight in the second-half and I was pleased with the players' application,” added Powell, “but we cut it fine and our goals were lucky.

via BBC Sport – Football – Spain 2-2 England.

Spain will amend its anti-tobacco law to extend a smoking ban to bars, cafes, restaurants and all other enclosed public spaces in the country next year, Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez said yesterday.

The new rules will exempt hotel rooms and private smoking clubs, as well as prisons and psychiatric hospitals because people in these institutions “do not have the freedom to have private spaces”, she told a news conference.

“Smoking will be allowed in terraces, at stadiums, at bullrings, at all open spaces,” the minister added.

Under a law that came into effect in the country of some 47 million people in January 2006, smoking was banned in the workplace as well as at shops, schools, hospitals, cultural centres and on public transport.

Spain's Hotel and Catering Federation has opposed further smoking restrictions. It argues sales would fall by seven percent in restaurants and by 10-15 percent in bars and cafes if a full smoking ban comes into effect.

But the government argues that other European nations have already banned smoking at bars, restaurants and other leisure establishments without harming their economy.

It says the ban is necessary because smoking is one of the biggest killers in Spain, with some 50,000 smoking-related deaths annually.

The bill will be debated in parliament later this month.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's socialist government are seven seats short of a majority but the amendment to the anti-tabacco law has the backing of two smaller left-wing parties and it is certain to pass.

via AFP: Spain to extend smoking ban to bars, restaurants next year.

Post-mortem tests are being held on the bodies of two UK children found dead in a hotel in north-east Spain.

A minute´s silence has been held in Lloret de Mar where Rebecca Smith, five, and her brother Daniel, 11 months, were found.

It later emerged their father Martin Smith, 45, was in custody in the UK facing unrelated child sex offences.

Cumbria Council has said their mother Lianne worked in its children ´s department, but not with children.

Mrs Smith, 43, is being questioned by Spanish police in the nearby town of Blanes following the discovery of the children´s bodies.

Police have 72 hours from the time of arrest before they must present their case to a magistrate who will decide whether to bring any charges.

About 100 holidaymakers and locals gathered outside the resort´s town hall on Thursday morning.

Deputy mayor Ignasi Riera i Garriga said they wanted to express their condolences for the “tragic deaths” which he said had had a “big impact” on the town.

Martin Smith faces 13 sex offence charges against a girl under 18

Cumbria County Council confirmed Ms Smith was responsible for out-of-school activities throughout the county.

Rebecca was referred by police to its social care team following inquiries into Mr Smith, 45, who was remanded at Carlisle Magistrates´s; Court on Wednesday until 7 June.

Child protection procedures were put in place before the allegations were passed to social services in Staffordshire, where Ms Smith and her daughter moved in October 2007.

They were reported missing two months later.

Cumbria Police has now voluntarily referred itself, and Staffordshire Police, to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) about the family´s case.

The IPCC said it was assessing the details and would decide whether it needed to conduct an investigation.

Mr Smith, the father of both children, was extradited from Spain over 13 charges of sexual offences against a girl aged between seven and 18 and for failing to answer police bail.

He was told on Tuesday his children had been found dead at the Hotel Miramar in the Costa Brava resort.

He had been arrested in Barcelona on 7 May.

Lloret de Mar fell silent on Thursday to remember the dead youngsters

He was charged with six counts of gross indecency with or towards a girl aged under 16 between 1995 and 2001; six counts of rape of a girl aged under 16 between 2001 and 2005 and one count of attempted rape of a girl under the age of 16 between 1997 and 2001.

Wearing a blue top, he confirmed his name and date of birth but gave no plea. He will appear at Carlisle Crown Court next month.

Spanish police found the children´s bodies shortly before 1400 local time on Tuesday in a room at the four-star hotel.

The discovery came after Mrs Smith asked the hotel reception desk for help.

According to our correspondent, the hotel´s receptionist said Mrs Smith told her she needed to speak to the police and had appeared calm before returning to her room.

Police said there were no outward signs of violence but officers have not confirmed reports in Spanish newspapers that the children were suffocated.

Reports that Mrs Smith had given a confession had also not been confirmed by police, a BBC correspondent added.

The hotel receptionist told the BBC the family had been at the resort since Saturday and daughter Rebecca would often wave to the staff.

Estonian tourist Siiri Sonajalg, 47, who was also staying at the hotel, said she was shocked.

“The hotel and police didn´t tell us anything. I didn't sleep very well last night because I was just wondering what the mother was feeling when she woke up that morning.

“I feel very sad. I keep thinking about what happened.”

The year the family went missing, Mr Smith had appeared on the television programme Most Haunted as a guest psychic investigating alleged paranormal occurrences at Brougham Hall near Penrith.

via BBC News – Post-mortem tests on UK children found dead in Spain.

Sisters Mildred Bowman and Alice Wardle lay trapped for nearly five days under fold down beds in their Benidorm apartment before dying of suffocation four years ago.

Both women’s families were offered out of court settlements by tour operator My Travel – now Thomas Cook.

And wile Alice’s family accepted, Mildred’s refused, choosing to fight on.

Earlier this year an inquest finally took place into their deaths – and Gateshead Coroner Terence Carney ruled their horrific end “could and should have been avoided”.

Mildred’s children Paul, John and Carol, finally hoped this would give them the clout to take legal action against Thomas Cook – who they believe should have done more to ensure the beds were safe.

But now they have been told by he company they are too late as applications for civil proceedings must be made within three years of the death.

“What’s the point of having an inquest if you can’t do anything about it?” said Paul, 46, of Low Fell.

“It’s as if the last four years have all been a waste of time.

“It is not about the money.

“My mum and auntie lay inside those beds suffering for almost five days and still no-one is taking responsibility for it.”

Their bid to bring a charge of manslaughter due to negligence against the hotel management was thrown out by a Spanish judge. The family are now taking civil action in Spain.

A Thomas Cook Spokesperson said: “The thoughts of us all will always be with the family of Mrs Bowman. Despite doing our utmost to try to resolve matters directly with the family and their legal representatives over a long period of time, this wasn’t possible.”

Two Thomas Cook staff were cleared of negligent manslaughter earlier this month following the death of two children in Corfu from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a faulty boiler. But now they face a retrial.

Three hotel staff were jailed for seven years.

via ChronicleLive.