British Expat Forced To Destroy Spanish Home Two Months After Wife Dies

A BRITISH expat has been forced to demolish his £130,000 house in Spain just two months after his wife dies of cancer.

A British expat has been forced to demolish his £130,000 house in Spain just two months after his wife dies of cancer. Gurney Davey, 67, from Suffolk is also facing a possible six months in prison after he was illegally given planning permission from a mayor.

“I was distraught at first, my blood pressure was sky high and then I lost my wife,” Mr Davey said as he was destroying his home near Tolox, Malaga.

The demolition of his home, which happened on Friday, June 11, cost him €1,600, however, he said it had actually given him “some sort of relief” after he had been fighting a legal battle over the home since 2004.

Mr Davey was told in 2003 by legal firm Manzanares that he would be getting a licence for a ‘storeroom’ (almacen), allowing him to build the house. “We thought we had done everything right. We got legal advice and went through a lawyer in order to get permission to build the home,” Davey explained.

However, he was later told that he was one of 350 people that were given illegal planning permission by former lawyer, Juan Vera. Vera was given a prison sentence of his own for the crimes, according to Travels Guide.

Mr Davey was informed that his house needed to be demolished to avoid a six-month prison stint just after his wife had passed away from bowel cancer. The former builder hired a JCB and demolished the home himself.

“Diana fought breast cancer for six years before bowel cancer – I am sure the stress brought it on.”

“But thankfully it is now over,” he said. “It has been going on for so long now, I’ve finally come to terms with what needs to be done.

“Having it demolished was actually a relief,” he added.

Mr Davey owns the land, however, he cannot live on it in a house. He now lives a minimalist life in a converted van with his five dogs.

“This land is my home, it is my life and these dogs are all I have left.”

It has still not yet been confirmed whether Mr Davey will face the six month prison sentence.

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