A BRIT woman accused of strangling an Irish pensioner to death with a vacuum cleaner cable has opened up about her “moment of madness” after a six month silence.
The 64-year-old woman allegedly killed Catherine Peckham, 66, with a power lead in September last year.
She reportedly confessed to the murder immediately after her arrest in Benidorm.
But she later refused to answer questions, telling a judge she had been in a state of shock.
Now she has spoken out for the first time since her arrest, saying she wanted to tell her side of the story.
The alleged vacuum strangler reportedly said she was reacting to a “situation of mistreatment” during the incident, adding: “I lost it.”
She had accepted Catherine’s offer of a room after struggling to find somewhere to stay in Spain.
But the Brit woman said her alleged victim’s drinking problem had caused tension between the pair.
She called the incident a “moment of madness”.
Catherine was found with a vacuum lead cable around her neck, which was taken away for forensic testing.
The Irish woman was originally from Cork and had spent much of her life living in Greater Manchester.
Her alleged murder took place in an apartment in Benidorm’s Rincon de Loix neighbourhood, home to its famous Little England area.
The accused could still make a plea bargain deal before a future jury trial, by admitting to a lesser charge for less time behind bars.
The elderly pair at the centre of the drama were described as holidaymakers.
Another British woman is said to have reported the alleged murder after a phone call from the suspect.
Local media reported the alleged strangler confessed the crime to her friend in the call.
Spanish cops initially said the women were both British.
A spokesman for the National Police in Alicante said in a first statement: “A woman aged 64 has been arrested on suspicion of killing another 66-year-old woman, both from the UK.
“The investigation is ongoing and at the moment we can’t give out any more information.”
Police subsequently said: “The dead woman was Irish. We don’t have information we can make public on where she was born. The suspected author is British.”
