Paul Durant had initially told an English tabloid newspaper that he had eaten his victim after hacking up her corpse.

A British citizen accused of killing and quartering his girlfriend three years ago in Calpe, Alicante, admitted yesterday in court that he had murdered her but said he did not get rid of the body.

Paul Durant had initially told an English tabloid newspaper that he had eaten his victim after hacking up her corpse.

This is the first time since 1983 that a person has been put on trial for murder without a corpse being found.

Paul D. told the judge in Alicante that in February 2004 he killed Karen Durell, a 41-year-old British mother of two who had moved to the resort of Calpe a few months earlier. But he said that after the murder, he left the body "in its place."


The accused, who had fled Britain after being sentenced to a 20-year prison term for theft, admitted that he tried to withdraw money with the victim's credit card, and that he entered a home belonging to one of her friends.