Andalucía
Accused denies murder in death of Granada jogger
By m.p.
Feb 20, 2008 - 5:58 PM

The trial began in the Granada provincial court on Wednesday for the murder of Beatriz Collado, the young woman who disappeared while out jogging in Granada City one night in March 2006. Her body was found floating in the Cubillas reservoir the following morning. She had been raped before she was strangled to death.

The man on trial for her death is José M.G. He denied killing Beatriz on Wednesday and told the court, ‘I am a criminal. I rob and I sell drugs, but I am not a murderer.’

Reporting on the first day of the trial, Europa Press said the accused claimed he was forced to rape Beatriz by two Turkish ‘hit men’ who were hired by a man he had met in prison, and he says paid him to kill six people when he was released. He said he was met by the two men on the night Beatriz disappeared, who threatened to hurt his son if he refused to go through with the deal, and said they ‘had a job’ for him. José M.G. said he was forced to take the terrified girl out of the car boot and rape her, before the two hit men strangled her and threw her body into the reservoir.

He faces a possible 30 years in prison, with an application for a 48 year prison sentence from lawyers acting for the private accusation from Beatriz’s boyfriend.