A man wanted for his wife’s murder, who turned himself in yesterday afternoon, confessed to a close relative what he had done, this newspaper has learnt.
Andrew Mangion, 40, is the prime suspect in the murder of 33-year-old Eleanor Mangion Walker, who was found dead in a pool of blood on Sunday night in an unused warehouse in Triq il-Kummerċ, Qormi. The possibility that she was killed elsewhere and then taken to the warehouse has not been excluded.
An autopsy revealed she had died due to grievous head injuries inflicted by a hard object.
In a statement issued just after 7pm, the police yesterday said the search for Mr Mangion was over, as he had turned himself in.
Sources close to the investigation told the Times of Malta that not long before the grim discovery in Qormi, a “shocked” close relative of Mr Mangion had filed a report that Ms Mangion Walker had been killed.
He reported that Mr Mangion had confessed to him and asked for help to dispose of the body, which he refused, the sources said. It appears that it was at that point that a panic-stricken Mr Mangion disappeared, having told the close relative he was so desperate he could shoot himself, the sources added.
The discovery of a dead man on a yacht about a mile off St Julian’s coast on Monday afternoon worried investigators, but it emerged that the deceased was a foreigner and the case was not connected to the murder.
No official domestic violence reports are known to have been filed by Ms Mangion Walker, however this newspaper has learnt that, about a year ago, she sought legal advice over alleged threats by her estranged husband
The couple, who were married in 2009 and had a nine-year-old daughter, were in the midst of separation proceedings.
They were still living together in a Swieqi apartment belonging to the victim’s mother but leading separate lives.
Two days before she was found dead, the victim went on a romantic date with her boyfriend, Rikky Pace, with whom she features in what is believed to be her last photo before her tragic death.