An ex-policeman has been banged up for allegedly butchering his wife and dumping her body parts across a popular holiday aisle.
Miguel Gallego Pousada was summoned to be interviewed – as a witness – about his wife’s disappearance on Tuesday (11 Feb).
But as he was questioned, he broke down and ended up confessing to killing and dismembering her.
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Gallego, 70, claimed he was punched following a heated row with his wife María Dolores Illán Méndez on 18 March 2020.
The retired Guardia Civil officer said he responded in kind and a struggle ensued.
The couple allegedly fought until Illán fell backwards, hit her head on the ground, and passed out.
Gallego claimed he spent several hours waiting by her body to see if she regained consciousness.
When he realised she had died, he allegedly decided to dismember her body and dispose of her remains.
Gallego told the police how he chopped his wife’s body into small pieces, bagged them up, and left them in his living room.
Days later, he packed the rotting remains into his rucksack and scattered them across the south of Gran Canaria, Spain.
Gallego claimed he used a saw, a knife, and a hammer to dismember Illán, but the police have doubts about the credibility of this account.
A forensic report says: “Dismembering a human body into fragments as small as five centimetres using ordinary household tools is extremely difficult.”
Following Gallego’s confession, bones believed to be Illán’s were found near a shopping centre and a supermarket in Playa del Inglés.
Blood traces were also found in the former couple’s home in San Bartolomé de Tirajana.
Gallego was remanded into custody on Thursday (13 Feb) on a murder charge.
Illán, 59, was originally from Vilassar de Mar, Catalonia. She worked as a cook and in admin, as reported by Need To Know.
She had two daughters with Gallego and had never reported him for domestic abuse.
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