A COUPLE who were murdered during a search for their Spanish dream home were held captive in a cellar for up to two weeks before being killed.

Tony and Linda O'Malley may also have been tortured by a ruthless gang preying on people who travel to the Costas looking for property.

An electric cattle prod and a truncheon were found in the villa near Benidorm where their bodies were buried beneath the cellar floor.

Two men, aged 37 and 53, and their wives have been arrested after they were stopped driving the O'Malleys' Fiat Stilo rental car with false plates.

The men have Venezuelan passports but Spanish police don't know whether they are genuine.

Mr O'Malley, 42, originally from Widnes, and his wife, from Liverpool, left their home at Llangollen, North Wales, last August and flew to Spain.

The couple, who had been married 15 years, were later lured to a villa 10 miles outside Benidorm, near the small industrial town of Alcoy.

Police believe Linda, 55, was kept prisoner while Tony, 42, was forced to accompany the gang to withdraw cash and use his credit card to buy hundreds of pounds-worth of electrical goods and clothing.

On one occasion, Mr O'Malley had to withdraw £18,000 from a bank account he and his wife had opened in Benidorm.

When the money ran out and the cards were stopped, the couple were killed, probably shot at close range. Their decomposed bodies are now being forensically examined to check the exact cause of death.