Jonny Smyth suspected of killing fellow countryman John George in Spain last year
A high-profile ‘murder mystery’ was brought much closer to closure yesterday when PJ police detained a 26-year-old from Northern Ireland in an AirBnB in the centre of Braga.
Jonny Smyth, full name Jonathan Alan Smyth, is the principal suspect in the murder in Spain’s Costa Blanca last year of a 37-year-old John George, also from Northern Ireland.
According to some reports, Smyth “fled to Thailand after the murder”, only returning to Europe recently, to hide-out with a 19-year-old girlfriend in Braga. Other reports suggest he may have been living in Braga for the last month.
Whatever the situation, Spanish authorities emitted an international arrest warrant in his name earlier this year, and this was used as the basis of Smyth’s arrest yesterday.
According to the BBC, John George’s father Billy “had travelled to Braga in recent days to pass information which he believed pointed to Smyth’s location to the city’s police force”.
John George went missing last December. His body was discovered “ in a remote lemon grove, having been stabbed and shot in the chest and face”.
A BBC investigation into this case explains that John George had been staying at Jonny Smyth’s home in Spain prior to being killed. It is widely accepted that John George was caught up in the world of Spanish expat criminality.
Jonny Smyth will be presented before Guimarães Court of Appeal today, with a view to a speedy extradition to Spain. ND
