Dilip Kuner
THE son of a British millionaire who killed a woman in a drink driving incident and stood trial accused of kidnapping a model in Marbella has died.
Westley Capper, who was facing prison over the disappearance of Latvian Agnese Klavina, 30, from Marbella, had a stroke, reportedly brought on by COVID-19. He died in the early hours of Monday in hospital where he had been admitted several days earlier, the Olive Press has learnt.
A business acquaintance close to the family confirmed he had died after spending a few days at least at a hospital understood to be the Quiron in Marbella.
“He had definitely been in hospital for a few days serous ill having caught COVID,” the businessman, who is close to the Capper family, told the Olive Press.
“We are waiting to see what plans his father and the family are going to make in terms of a possible wake and funeral but we are not bothering his father now, as he is very, very upset,” said the estate agent, who asked not to be named.
The 44-year-old, who killed a Bolivian mother while over the limit on drink and drugs, caught the virus near his home in Benahavis in the hills above the Costa del Sol.
Capper had been spared jail at trial in 2020 after admitting to the manslaughter of Fatima Dorado in 2016.
But in an earlier case Capper and his friend Craig Porter, 38, were handed suspended sentences of two years and six months respectively on charges of coercion after being cleared of the kidnapping of Klavina.
The Marbella-based pals were also ordered to pay €10,000 to the family of Klavina and one third of their legal costs.
The charge of kidnapping – for which the British pair faced 12 years in prison – could not be proved, leaving Klavina’s family ‘stunned’.
While the judge agreed that they had conspired to force her into their car following a late night at a Marbella nightclub, the prosecution was unable to prove why she has not been seen since.
This was despite a large, heavy bag being seen taken onto Capper’s father’s boat four days later according to statements produced during the trial, as well as other circumstantial evidence.
“The family are very disappointed,” Fernando Scornik Gerstein, representing the Klavinas, told the Olive Press at the time.
“They are heartbroken at losing a daughter, sister, and the two people they believe are responsible have got such light sentences.
“Meanwhile the bouncer who clearly helped force Agnese into their car got nothing.”
The Madrid-based lawyer said he strongly disagreed with the judge’s interpretation of the law.
“We will be appealing this verdict to the Supreme Court,” he added.
The case has still not been resolved.
He had asked the court for long sentences and €85,000 in compensation for their alleged role in the disappearance of the Latvian waitress, who was 30 when she vanished from Aqwa Myst nightclub in Puerto Banus in 2014.
Capper was also set to appeal the coercion conviction, and had been told to lie low at his multi-million euro home in the upmarket Madronal development.
Robert Taylor, the lawyer of privately-educated Capper, who attended private Aloha College in Marbella, told the Olive Press: “He had no intention to take Agnese Klavina against her will and she entered my client’s car of her own volition.”
He added: “I can also confirm that my client intends to appeal against his conviction for coercion.”
Two years after Klavina’s disappearance, Capper and Porter ran over and killed Bolivian mother Fatima Dorado at a zebra crossing in San Pedro de Alcantara.
Capper was handed a two-year suspended sentence after the incident.
The ruling came after Capper – who was high on drugs and drink – struck a deal with prosecutors by paying a large compensation to Dorado’s family. In total this amounted to €310,000 in ‘blood money’.
The Capper family, who own a number of houses around the Benahavis area, in the hills above Marbella have lived on the Costa del Sol for over 30 years.
“Obviously we knew and read these stories about Wes, but he was always decent and friendly with us,” another acquaintance of the family told The Olive Press.
“His father has always acted in a very gentlemanly way.”
The family have homes in the upmarket Madronal estate in Benahavis where properties cost upward of €1 million and previous residents include Mark Thatcher and music producer Nellee Hooper.
Unconfirmed sources said Capper, who was seriously overweight, had died at Quiron hospital where he was being treated for COVID. A spokesman at the hospital told the Olive Press: “We are not allowed to give out any private or personal data.”
A former tenant of the Capper family of over two decades also confirmed his death this week. “The family are devastated. It happened very suddenly. I understand his father hasn’t been well either, so this has been a real blow for him.”
Lawyer Jorge Hoz Garcia, who had represented Capper in the past refused to confirm or deny the death, saying that he had no statement to make.
- British expat Westley Capper avoids jail for hit-and-run killing of Bolivian mother on Spain’s Costa del Sol
- OPINION: The shock verdict that sees Westley Capper and Craig Porter ‘walk free’ is an insult to Agnese Klavina
- GUILTY: Westley Capper and Craig Porter verdict in but ‘both will AVOID JAIL’ over Agnese Klavina disappearance
