Two people are ‘arrested over the Costa del Sol shooting of a businessman from Manchester’

Two people including one ‘British national’ are ‘arrested over the Costa del Sol shooting of a businessman from Manchester’

  • Peter Andrew Williamson, 39, from Salford, was killed last November in Spain
  • One of the men was held at his home on an upmarket estate near Murcia
  • The second arrest reportedly took place at an undisclosed location in the UK

Two people have reportedly been arrested over the Costa del Sol shooting of a British businessman.

Peter Andrew Williamson, 39, from Salford, Greater Manchester, was killed as he parked outside his luxury villa in Riviera del Sol near Fuengirola last November.

One of the men was held at his home on an upmarket estate near Murcia, south east Spain, according to a respected local Spanish-language newspaper.

He has been described as a British national. The arrest is said to have taken place on Monday but has only just been made public.

Peter Andrew Williamson, 39, (pictured) from Salford, Greater Manchester, was killed as he parked outside his luxury villa in Riviera del Sol near Fuengirola last November

Local paper La Opinion de Murcia said Civil Guard officers who made the arrest seized 21 kilos of cannabis resin from his home and he has already been remanded in prison on suspicion of murder after appearing before a judge in a closed-court hearing.

A separate report in respected national newspaper El Mundo said the second arrest had taken place at an undisclosed location in the UK.

No-one from the Civil Guard in Murcia or Malaga, the province where last November’s shooting took place, could be reached for comment late last night.

Mr Williamson, known as Snaggle, was returning from the gym when he was targeted.

He died instantly from one of the seven bullets fired at him which hit him in the heart.

He was sitting in his UK-plated two-seater Audi when he was targeted outside his large detached home in a residential street in hills above the Med. Pictured: police tow away the car after the incident

He was sitting in his UK-plated two-seater Audi when he was targeted outside his large detached home in a residential street in hills above the Med. Pictured: police tow away the car after the incident

He was sitting in his UK-plated two-seater Audi when he was targeted outside his large detached home in a residential street in hills above the Med.

Spanish business records show Mr Williamson, believed to have been shot from another vehicle that drew up beside him before speeding from the scene, was registered as a self-employed agricultural sector intermediary specialising in ‘international trade.’

Police were focusing on the theory the Brit expat’s murder may have been drugs-related although his family insisted he had nothing to do with crime.

Respected Malaga-based paper Sur reported shortly after he was shot dead that he had been arrested last March by Spanish police for using a transport firm to send cannabis resin from the Costa del Sol to an unidentified destination.

There was no official comment from Spanish police at the time about the reports.

Mr Williamson’s murder was the second in less than a week in the area.

Days earlier a man was shot dead on a a residential estate known as Andasol a short drive from Marbella town centre.

Mr Williamson, known as Snaggle, was returning from the gym when he was targeted. Pictured: the scene of the shooting

Mr Williamson, known as Snaggle, was returning from the gym when he was targeted. Pictured: the scene of the shooting

In January last year a millionaire businessman who was close to the stars of reality TV series TOWIE and partied with the likes of Mohamed Al Fayed, was shot dead outside his luxury Costa del Sol home.

Marco Yaqout was gunned down as he drove into his garage in his trademark UK-plated Bentley.

His killer was waiting for him outside his villa on a quiet residential street in an upmarket neighbourhood in San Pedro de Alcantara near Marbella called Las Petunias.

English-speaking entrepreneur Marco was described at the time of his murder as the owner of at least five-well-known nightspots in Puerto Banus, including the TOWIE favourite TIBU, and Linekers.

Police announced in March they had arrested his suspected killers in an operation coordinated with police in Amsterdam which led to the detentions of six people and the smashing of one of Europe’s most active hitman-for-hire gangs.