British Couple Found Shot Dead at their Home in Spain

An elderly British couple have been found shot dead in their villa in southeastern Spain, Spanish police said Monday.

Police discovered the body of the two, both aged 77, at their home in Xalo near Benidorm on Spain's Costa Blanca, on Sunday after friends were unable to contact them, a Guardia Civil spokesman said.

"Some of their friends became worried and called police to go look for them at their home when they were not able to reach them. They had been shot in the head," the spokesman said.

There were no signs of break-in and nothing appears to have been stolen from the house, the spokesman said.

Police would not name the victims but British media identified them as Peter Tarsey, a former British diver who competed for Britain at the 1956 Olympics in Australia, and his wife Jean.

The couple had reportedly been living in the region for the last 18 years and have two grown sons, one who lives in London and the other on the Spanish holiday island of Majorca in the Mediterranean.

Just over 15 million Britons visited Spain last year, making it Britain's most popular tourism destination in the world.

An estimated one million British nationals live in Spain all or part of the year, according to the British embassy in Spain.