Spanish judge has issued an international arrest warrant for an English man wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of 40-year-old John O’Neill

Spanish judge has issued an international arrest warrant for an English man wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of 40-year-old John O’Neill in the early hours of Wednesday morning on the Costa del Sol.

Mr O’Neill, who was in Spain with his partner to attend a friend’s wedding, was shot following an altercation at Coco’s Bar in the popular tourist resort of Benalmadena, near Torremolinos.

Mr O'Neill's family said yesterday he died because he got in the way of the gunfire and was not involved in a row.

Police say they have found bloodstained clothing matching the descriptions given by witnesses in the Benalmadena home of the main suspect. Sources close to the investigation claim this man is wanted in Britain in connection with a kidnapping.

The suspect is understood to have fled the resort with his wife immediately after the shooting and both are now being sought by police.

The man, believed to be from Liverpool, is wanted for questioning over the murder of father-of-two Mr O’Neill and the attempted murder of other customers in the bar, who had to take cover when when a number of shots were fired from the handgun used to kill Mr O'Neill