A WOMAN has spoken of her ordeal after she and her fiance were jailed for their part in the killing of a man in Spain.

Bridget Elizabeth Stokes said she and her partner, Adrian Marshall, were convicted by a kangaroo court.

The 49-year-old, who lives in the North Road area of Darlington, was convicted of covering up the killing of fatherof- three Colyn Roy Nobes at a house in the Spanish resort of Javea, near Benidorm, in June 2006.

She was sentenced to one year nine months by a court in Alicante, but has since returned to the UK having served that amount of time on remand.

Mr Marshall, 50, also from Darlington, was ordered to serve 16 years for carrying out the killing with another Briton, Lindsay Slade.

A former bouncer, he admitted killing Mr Nobes, but denies his murder, claiming he acted in self-defence after being attacked with knives.

Mr Marshall, who is said to have disposed of the body, is in a Spanish jail near Alicante, but has lodged an appeal over the court’s decision, which could take up to six months to be heard.

The couple previously ran a car valeting and garage business in Percy Road, Darlington, and began living in Javea in 2004.

Ms Stokes, who said she had never formally entered a plea to the crime, admitted she had been asked by her fiance to clean up blood left in the property, and also subsequently washed his clothes.

But she said she did not know at this stage that Mr Nobes had been killed and did not learn until later that his body had been disposed of by the two men.

She said: “As far as I was concerned, I cleaned up after a crime in which a house had been broken into and a fight had taken place.”

Describing her treatment, Ms Stokes said: “The trial itself was a kangaroo court.

“They would not allow us to bring any witnesses of our own, and they falsified my evidence.”

Ms Stokes, who plans to write a book about her experiences, said she went on hunger strike for two weeks while in jail in protest at the inactivity with her case.

She was eventually released in May 2008.

Defending her partner, Ms Stokes said: “Adie is not a violent man or a murderer. He is just a gentle giant.”

She added: “I am hoping I can get Adie transferred over here because I don’t believe he is being looked after.

“He has passed out and has had dizzy spells and is very down at the moment.”

A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed it was providing consular assistance to the two jailed men.