A man has been found guilty over the killing of a Walsall Wood barman who was stabbed as he slept in an apartment on the holiday island of Majorca.

Richard Roberts, aged 36, of Liverpool, has been convicted in connection with the death of 26-year-old Danny Hastelow, who was stabbed seven times at the Playa Mar Apartments, in Magaluf.

Another man, Paul Anthony Griffiths, who was also charged over the killing, was acquitted due to a “lack of proof.”

The verdict was returned late yesterday evening and comes more than 18 months after the attack on Mr Hastelow, whose body remains in Spain despite a desperate appeal by his family to bring him home.

Both men were charged with murder. Because of the differences in the Spanish court system the details of what Roberts has been charged with will not be revealed until the sentence.

The state prosecutor has asked Judge Eduardo Calderon for an 18-year prison sentence for Roberts.

Roberts had admitted stabbing Mr Hastelow, formerly of Bridgewater Close, but claimed he had acted in self-defence after he was attacked by his victim, who was working as a barman.

But a Spanish jury of nine, sitting at the four-day trial at Majorca’s Palace of Justice, in Palma, rejected his claims. They decided Paul Griffiths, aged 23, also of Liverpool, had not taken part in the murder, which happened in January last year.

The jury also dismissed a charge against both men of breaking into the apartment where Mr Hastelow died.

The state prosecutor has also asked the judge to order Roberts to pay compensation of 90,000 euros – £81,000 to the victim’s family. Speaking after today’s verdict, Mr Hastelow’s sister Claire Peters said she was “devastated” with the outcome.