“They are not to blame for what the boy has done”

THE family of Maria Esther have pleaded with people not to blame the family of the arrested teen.

The girl’s father, Juan Isidoro Jiménez, said: “They are not to blame for what the boy has done.”

It follows the news that the accused’s grandfather suffered a heart attack upon hearing of the arrest.

Police arrested the teenager known as ‘El Vaca’ at his home in Arriate yesterday.

The 17-year-old, who has the initials R.V.R, has refused to declare himself to the judge, neither confirming nor denying the allegations.

The Judge has now ordered the youth to be held in an internment centre for a minimum of six months.

Reports suggest in addition to the DNA evidence linking him to the body, a search of his home revealed remains of blood on a shoe.

It is now over two weeks since the battered body of 13-year-old Maria Esther was discovered in a pool house in the outskirts of town.

And in the wake of the killer’s arrest Maria Esther’s family have revealed they intend to leave the village and return to the mothers home of Paterna de Rivera in Cádiz where their daughter has been buried.