Brit found guilty of murdering girlfriend on holiday in Gran Canaria

A man has been found guilty of murdering his 23-year-old girlfriend while on holiday in Gran Canaria.

Christopher Chittock from Ipswich flew back to England after killing Sarah Shields on 7 July 2010.

The Sun reports that the divorced father-of-one, 38, was picked up by Sarah's mum and told her: 'She left me for an electrician called Jason she met on holiday. Don't try to call her.'

According to the BBC, Chittock was extradited to the Spanish island to stand trial and denied murder but was found guilty by a jury at the Provincial Court in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

The court heard how the engineer savagely beat and strangled his girlfriend of eight months in their holiday apartment in Mogan after he found text messages from her ex-boyfriend on her phone.

According to The Sun, Sarah had texted her ex telling him she had sunbathed topless.

In one message she wrote: 'It would be good if you were here. Not the same with Chris.'

Chittock dragged Sarah to a deserted beach, banged her head against a rock and strangled her.

Her body was found in the sea the next morning.

The court heard how he flew to the UK and tried to cover up his crime by sending texts from Ms Shield's phone to her family pretending to be her.

The jury ruled it was not proven that Chittock killed her because of the texts.

Judge Secundino Aleman will sentence him next week for 'willingly killing Sarah and prolonging her pain for at least an hour'.

He faces up to 25 years in jail.

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