A Dutch national who befriended a British expat woman has been jailed for over 25 years after he killed her to snatch €550 from her purse.
An Alicante jury found handyman Nicholas Pijnenborg guilty of murder and robbery at his trial in September.
Alicante Provincial Court has now sentenced him to 25 years and six months behind bars, which is what prosecutors requested..
The body of Margaret McNulty,70, was found in her Granja de Rocamora home in November 2019, where she lived on her own after her husband died in 2005.
There were no signs of forced entry which convinced the Guardia Civil that Margaret had been killed by somebody she knew.
She had been brutally assaulted by Pijnenborg who she knew for four years.
He popped round to ask for a loan and when Margaret pulled €50 out of her purse, he noticed that she had a lot more cash in it.
Pijnenborg grabbed her by the neck and threw her to the floor, before punching and kicking her to death.
He then stole €550 and spent some of it that evening in nightclubs.
Guardia investigations were kept secret for eight months including Pijnenborg’s arrest in the Crevillente area in January 2020.
A reconstruction(pictured at the top) of what happened on that fateful November day was carried out in July 2020 when details of the probe were made public.
Pijnenborg admitted his guilt to the Guardia Civil is his original statement but then failed to get a plea bargain deal involving 15 years in jail.
His lawyer argued that he stole the money because he was a drug addict and he needed Margaret’s cash to buy drugs.