'Decapitated' Spanish student told friends he was 'living in fear' days before he was

'Decapitated' Spanish student told friends he was 'living in fear' days before he was brutally murdered

• Sergio Retamar Marquez, 23, moved to Britain less than a year ago
• Was here to learn English and work as a waiter
• Told friends he was 'frightened' of someone he knew
• A 29-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and bailed to a secure mental unit
  

By SAM ADAMS
PUBLISHED: 03:55 EST, 19 July 2012 | UPDATED: 08:34 EST, 20 July 2012

A Spanish student told friends he was living in fear just days before he was decapitated in a horrifying attack in a seaside flat, it emerged today.

Sergio Retamar Marquez, 23, was hacked to death at his two-bedroom flat above a wine bar in Bournemouth, Dorset.

A friend, who didn't want to be named, has told how Mr Marquez was 'living in fear' of someone he knew.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/...38_468x286.jpg Shocked residents talk to police near to the murder scene

The friend added that Mr Marquez told him the person would say 'very strange things' and was 'frightened of him'.

It has emerged that the youngster, from the southern Spanish town of Coin, moved to Britain less than a year ago to learn English and work as a waiter.

He is believed to have started in a new job at a hotel shortly before his death after returning briefly to his home town near Malaga to recover from a road accident and do a cookery course.

Dorset Police said a 29-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder had been bailed to a secure mental health unit.

A spokesman for Dorset Police said: 'A 29-year-old man from Bournemouth was arrested in connection with the incident and has now been transferred and bailed to a secure unit whilst enquiries continue.

'Police are not looking for anyone else in relation to the man’s death.

'Although the investigation into the circumstances is ongoing, Dorset Police can reassure members of the public that the incident was between two people who were known to each other and there will be no further comment until the investigation is finalised.'

Mr Marquez's body was found after armed police swooped on the flat which is situated above a wine bar at about 5pm on Tuesday.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/...40_233x423.jpg Block of flats in the centre of Bournemouth where the grisly attack took place

Neighbours reported hearing screaming before the grim discovery.

A trail of blood was found leading away from an alleyway alongside the three-storey building.

A blood-covered man was arrested by police outside a private hospital a short distance away 30 minutes later.

Officers dressed him in a white forensic suit to preserve any evidence before he was driven to a police station.

Police taped off the building and officers with sniffer dogs were seen searching an area to the rear of the property, possibly looking for a murder weapon.

Mr Marquez's uncle has flown to Britain to seek more information about his murder and begin the process of repatriating his body.

Another relative of Mr Marquez, an only child, said: 'We have been told very little about what’s happened.

'It’s destroyed us, especially his mum who he was very close to.'

The incident happened at a flat above the Downes Wine Bar in the Lansdowne area of Bournemouth.

Phillip Ellison, who runs the wine bar, said: 'A girl turned up outside the flats and she was calling out the guy’s name over and over.

'There was then a lot of commotion. A guy was shouting out the back, trying to get someone to open the flat.

'Police came and taped off the flats and refused to allow anyone in the building.'

Valiant Dickson, 29, who lives in the flat underneath the murder scene with his wife Paula, 30, and their baby daughter Maya, said: 'It is a two bedroom flat where it happened and there used to be about six or seven people there, coming and going.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/...43_468x286.jpg Philip Ellison owns the wine bar beneath the murder flat

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/...13_468x290.jpg Neighbour Valiant Dickson lives in the flat below the murder scene with his wife and child

'But now there are two or three Spanish men aged around 25 who live there. It is all quite shocking.'

A woman who works in the nearby hospital saw the man being arrested.

She said: 'I saw a man covered in blood and the police were holding him down.

'He was lying on the ground on his side; it looked like he had blood on his knees.'

A spokesman for Dorset police said the arrested man is continuing to help officers with their inquiries.

A friend of Mr Marquez, Felipe Guerrero, wrote on Twitter: 'How unfair life is, it’s beyond explanation.'

Read more: Sergio Retamar Marquez: 'Decapitated' Spanish student told friends he feared for his life days before he was brutally murdered | Mail Online

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