A teenager has admitted killing his twin brother and burying him in a ditch just yards from his front door, where he remained undiscovered for a year until he was eventually found by an asparagus picker.
Ryan Goodman, 19, had fought with twin Michael in February last year after their mother Lynette shouted at them over money that had gone missing from her purse.
The twins, who are originally from Northampton but left with their family for Spain six years ago, blamed each other for stealing the money.
The fight ended in tragedy when Ryan pushed Michael, who fell against a door knocker and hit his head, dying instantly.
Panicking, Ryan dragged Michael’s body out of the family’s country villa near Valencia, an area popular with ex-pats and hid the body beneath undergrowth in a ditch just 10 metres from their front door.
Michael’s decomposed body was only found in April this year when a wild asparagus picker stumbled across the remains. DNA testing confirmed his identity.
Lynette, 39, had only reported her son missing three months after he vanished.
It is believed Ryan had told the family his brother had returned to England and they did not raise the alarm as he was ‘prone to disappear’ for weeks at a time.
Appearing at court in the nearby town of Xativa, Ryan told the investigating judge that it had been an accident and he was very sorry:
The twins attended school in the town of Vallada close to where the killing took place
‘I loved my brother and had no intention of killing him,’ he said, adding that he had hidden the body because he was ‘very scared’ of the consequences.
The judge remanded him to the custody of youth criminal services because he had been 17 years old when the crime was committed.
He will spend six months in a juvenile detention centre while he awaits trial.
The twins and their two younger siblings Shannon and Owen, also twins, were attending school in the nearby town of Vallada.
Headteacher of the IES Secondary School, Jose Miguel Martinez, posted a message on the school’s website saying: “Although it has been two years since Michael left the school, there are still many here who knew him personally.
“Those that shared class with him knew him as a good person. It’s a terrible misfortune that his life has been cut short in such a tragic way.”
A spokesman for the British Embassy said: “We are aware of the arrest of a British national and we are offering consular assistance to the family.”
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