Teenage son of killer British expat relives desperate bid to save his dying mother

The teenage son of a British expat who confessed to killing his glamourous wife has told a Spanish court of his desperate attempts to save his dying mother. 

Wealthy father-of-two Geoffrey Elton, 57, admitted to his headteacher wife of 33 years Gloria Tornay’s brutal stabbing at the start of his Costa del Sol murder trial on Monday. 

Alonso Tornay, 18, told a court in Malaga on Tuesday of the sickening moment he found his mother covered in blood after being stabbed up to 16 times on March 9 2019. 

Alonso, who was 15 at the time, recalled how his father refused to call an ambulance – and instead threw three phones into the garden of their Spanish home before locking him out as he raced through the open front door to find them and call 999.

He also recalls his mother screaming ‘don’t hurt the boy’ after she was suffering from the stab wounds. 

Wealthy father-of-two Geoffrey Elton, 57, admitted to his headteacher wife of 33 years Gloria Tornay's (pictured together) brutal stabbing at the start of his Costa del Sol murder trial on Monday

Wealthy father-of-two Geoffrey Elton, 57, admitted to his headteacher wife of 33 years Gloria Tornay’s (pictured together) brutal stabbing at the start of his Costa del Sol murder trial on Monday

Elton's defence lawyer branded him 'dangerous' before his courtroom confession on Monday. Pictured: Elton in court on Monday in Malaga

Elton’s defence lawyer branded him ‘dangerous’ before his courtroom confession on Monday. Pictured: Elton in court on Monday in Malaga

The teenager also identified one of the two knives prosecutors say Elton used to stab Gloria up to 16 times as the self-confessed killer looked on impassively behind him.

Spanish speaker Alonso told the nine jurors at court he was woken by the sound of a blow after a ‘normal’ evening meal with his parents and 20 minutes’ TV in bed and discovered his stricken mum after following a trail of blood leading to their room.

‘She was on her knees on the left side of the bed, leaning on one hand with the other over her face,’ he said.

Answering questions from state prosecutor Julio Angel Martinez Carazo, he added: ‘She was covered in blood and I asked her what had happened. She didn’t reply so I went to the kitchen to get some paper to try to close her wounds.

‘When I came back with more paper I saw my dad arrive with a knife and blood on his hands.

‘My mum still wasn’t speaking but he said she had had an accident and then asked me for a hug.

‘I told him to call an ambulance and that’s when he threw the landline and two mobiles including my mum’s phone into the garden.

‘I ran out of the house through the open front door to find them and call police and I heard the door slammed shut behind me and locked so I couldn’t get back in.’

Alonso Tornay, 18, told a court in Malaga on Tuesday of the sickening moment he found his mother covered in blood after being stabbed up to 16 times on March 9 2019. Pictured: File image of the Malaga Courts of Justice

Alonso Tornay, 18, told a court in Malaga on Tuesday of the sickening moment he found his mother covered in blood after being stabbed up to 16 times on March 9 2019. Pictured: File image of the Malaga Courts of Justice

Elton (pictured in court on Monday with his defence attorney) claimed in his rambling court testimony his wife and her family had been spying on him with the help of a Spanish police officer relative based at the Jordanian Embassy, although his youngest son insisted he had never mentioned it and had no mental disorder he was aware of

Elton (pictured in court on Monday with his defence attorney) claimed in his rambling court testimony his wife and her family had been spying on him with the help of a Spanish police officer relative based at the Jordanian Embassy, although his youngest son insisted he had never mentioned it and had no mental disorder he was aware of

Alonso was shown the black-handled kitchen knife he said he had found covered in blood in an outside storage room when he went to fetch tools to try to force his way back inside the £560,000 family home near the holiday resort of Estepona.

‘That’s the one’, the teenager confirmed as it was taken out of a paper wrapping by a court official before being passed in front of his dad so it could be seen close-up by defence and prosecution lawyers.

Telling the jurors how he smashed the glass behind bars over the kitchen window with a hammer and his dad barked, ‘That’s enough’ before drinking a glass of water and offering him some from behind the broken pane, he added: ‘I heard my mum yell “Don’t hurt the boy” from the bedroom.

‘I heard her shout like she’d never shouted before. I was yelling for help over and over and a neighbour heard me and called the police.

‘They gave me a thermal blanket when they arrived because I was in a state of shock and they kept me outside.

‘It must have taken them a good 30 minutes to force open the front door because it was a reinforced door.

‘I saw my dad come out in handcuffs. I was still under the blanket when the police told me my mum had died.’

Elton, 57, is facing up to 14 years in jail if he is convicted of murdering his wife in a surprise attack he is ruled criminally responsible for.

Elton’s defence lawyer branded him ‘dangerous’ before his courtroom confession on Monday.

But Juan Antonio Lopez Alvarez said he killed Gloria under the effects of a mental illness and should be treated in a secure psychiatric centre before being expelled from Spain and placed in the care of UK authorities.

Elton claimed in his rambling court testimony his wife and her family had been spying on him with the help of a Spanish police officer relative based at the Jordanian Embassy, although his youngest son insisted he had never mentioned it and had no mental disorder he was aware of.

Elton, 57, is facing up to 14 years in jail if he is convicted of murdering his wife in a surprise attack he is ruled criminally responsible for. Pictured: Elton

Elton, 57, is facing up to 14 years in jail if he is convicted of murdering his wife in a surprise attack he is ruled criminally responsible for. Pictured: Elton 

The Brit was accused in court on Monday of drugging ‘clean-living’ Gloria, 58, with methadone and morphine because she wanted to divorce him and trying to suffocate and strangle her to death after sex before stabbing her repeatedly.

She died after going into hypovolemic shock from blood loss.

One of the first police officers on the crime scene, identified only by his service number 120813, told the court he took ’15 to 20 minutes’ to force entry to the house with colleagues using a large hammer and axe.

‘There was a lot of blood inside and a man on his back and a woman in the foetal position lying on the bed in one of the bedrooms,’ he said.

‘I could see straight away the woman was dead. The man had blood on his hands and said, ‘Kill me, kill me’

‘He asked me if I knew why he had done it and then said the woman had betrayed him by giving information to a relative at the Jordanian Embassy.’

An unnamed police inspector, who read Elton his rights after his release from hospital following treatment for wrist wounds attributed to an alleged suicide attempt, said: ‘After he reached the police station, he said he had thrown the phones away to avoid his wife getting help.’

The trial, now expected to last until Thursday before the jury retires to consider its verdict, continues.

source: dailymail.co.uk