02:28
Reporter
William Madley (47) had admitted hitting Lanarkshire man Derek Cowan over the head with a bottle before strangling him with his bare hands in Barcelona nearly three years ago.
The father of two confessed to the crime, which occurred in October 2008.
Lawyers struck a deal where it was agreed Madley, who spent his formative years in Yorkshire, would serve 10 years in prison. He was also ordered to pay £13,000 in compensation to the family of his victim.
The court in Barcelona heard a row, believed to have been over a failed business venture, had ended in the death of the 46-year-old Larkhall man in his apartment in the Spanish city's fashionable Eixample district.
It is thought the two Brits had at one time been business partners but had had a disagreement over money and ended the partnership some years before.
Mr Cowan, who had lived in Spain for seven years and had a Spanish girlfriend, was found lying in a pool of blood in his flat on October 8, 2008.
His current business partner, concerned that he couldn't contact Mr Cowan, went to his flat where he made the grim discovery.
Police launched a manhunt for Madley, who went on the run for five weeks and was only found during a routine police check at the city's main railway station in the middle of November.
Madley is alleged to have said he picked up a bottle and hit Mr Cowan over the head in anger. Mr Cowan then fell to the floor where Madley strangled him.
Madley admitted he did not know if his former business partner had been dead or alive when he left his apartment home.
Madley was originally from St Andrews but moved at a young age to Huddersfield where he attended primary and secondary schools and sixth form college.
He was 25 when he left the west Yorkshire town to join the Royal Navy. He served as a submarine officer aboard a nuclear vessel.
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