British cab driver jailed for nine years in Spain over jealousy-fuelled knife attack on his partner 

A British cabbie who was arrested following a five-day manhunt in Benidorm, has been sentenced to nine years in jail over a vicious jealousy-fuelled knife attack on his partner.

David Grundy, from Bolton, was pictured being pinned to the ground by police with his jeans halfway down his legs during his capture in the famous Costa Blanca resort.

The 55-year-old was held five days after his partner Nicola Anne Walker Houghton was stabbed in the back at their expat home a 45-minute drive south in Orihuela Costa in June 2017.

He pleaded guilty to the attack at a court in Alicante last week as part of a plea bargain deal with prosecutors in return for a reduced prison sentence of nine years.

State prosecutors had been demanding a 14-year prison sentence before the case went to trial on October 16, claiming the Brit had attacked his partner after she asked him to move out.

He also agreed to pay his victim, 42 at the time, £155,000 (€181,000) in compensation. The sentence has only just been made public.

An arrest warrant was issued for Grundy shortly after he vanished in a neighbour’s stolen car following the June 13 2017 stabbing.

The victim had a life-saving operation to remove a large kitchen knife from her lower back.

Her daughter alerted police after finding her lying in a pool of blood on her kitchen floor.

Grundy, who worked as a taxi driver and gardener, is believed to have been sleeping in the vehicle he was using to avoid capture.

Clothes and £4,020 (€4,600) were found inside the car.

Benidorm councillor Lorenzo Martinez said at the time the arrest showed the ‘efficiency and commitment of the resort’s police force when it comes to making Benidorm a safe city.’

He added: ‘It says a lot about the professionalism of our officers.’

Juan Carlos Moragues, a central government representative for the Alicante area, confirmed at the time an international arrest warrant was out for Mr Grundy and revealed he had fled the crime scene in a stolen car belonging to neighbours whose house he looked after, leaving his own vehicle where it was.

Court documents revealed ahead of the trial, which was set to last just one day if it had gone ahead as scheduled, said: ‘A man is due to be tried for trying to kill a woman he had been in a relationship with for a few months.

‘The incident happened on June 13 2017 at the victim’s home on an estate in Orihuela, when both had an argument which state prosecutors say was caused by his jealousy.

‘The woman asked him to leave home because she needed time to think but he insisted on continuing the relationship and trying to kiss her and talk to her.

‘Subsequently, when the victim was in the bathroom getting ready to go out, he approached her from behind and stabbed her once in the lower back.

‘Then he sat her on the floor and left the property. The victim managed to drag herself to the garden to ask her mum and daughter, who were outside waiting for her, for help.’