A Dutch man who beat a British grandmother to death in her Spanish villa has been jailed for 25 years.
Nicolas Pijnenborgh was sentenced to 23 years for Margaret McNulty's murder and two years and six months for robbing her of £500.
A judge at an Elche court, near Alicante, jailed Pijnenborgh, 51, after a three-day trial last month in which he was found guilty by a jury.
Margaret's children Cheryl Edmondson and David Parker were in court for the jury verdict.
The Dutch handyman, who used an assumed name at the time, did odd jobs for his victim and had gone to her house in Granja de Rocamora near Elche the night of the murder to borrow money.
Jurors heard how the 6ft, 16-stone brute subjected the 8st 9lbs, 5ft-2in OAP to a stomach-turning attack in order to steal just £500, which he spent with a friend that same night partying in bars and nightclubs.
On November 16 2019, Pijnenborgh struck as Margaret's guard was down in her kitchen after watching her pull a €50 note out of a purse where she kept extra cash.
Nicolas Pijnenborgh (pictured) was sentenced to 23 years for Margaret McNulty's murder and two years and six months for robbing her of £500
Margaret had emigrated to Spain in 2003 with her husband, who died two years later, from Heysham, Lancashire
Pictured: Margaret's home in the small town of Granja de Rocamora, near Elche in Spain
He grabbed Margaret, weeks away from her 71st birthday, round the neck and threw her on the kitchen floor before punching and kicking her repeatedly as well as stamping on her head, face and chest.
Margaret, whose second husband died in a motorcycle accident two years after they emigrated to Spain in 2003 from Heysham, Lancashire, suffered multiple injuries including brain trauma, a broken jaw, several broken ribs, a fractured sternum, a broken spine and myocardial rupture.
Pijnenborgh fled the scene but was arrested around two months later and held on remand in prison until his trial.
He made a partial confession following his detention, but claimed he had suffered from memory loss after consuming crack cocaine and alcohol.
Judge Joaquin Maria Orellana Piera, who delivered his sentence in a 51-page written ruling made public on Friday, revealed that Pijnenborgh had been arrested by police for a string of alleged street muggings on women in Spain
