Acting-government first vice-president, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, admitted yesterday that administrative errors may have led indirectly to the death of Mari Luz Cortés.

It has emerged that her accused killer, Santiago del Valle, was never made to serve a 33-month sentence imposed after Del Valle was convicted in 2002 of sexually abusing his own daughter.

It also seems that Del Valle had been signing in with his local judge twice a month for the last eighteen months on a separate child abuse charge that remains pending. Del Valle had even continued signing in after fleeing to Cuenca province the day after Mari Luz disappeared.

Speaking after yesterday's cabinet meeting, Ms De la Vega said: "What has happened is very serious. An extremely serious, terrible and tragic judicial error. The state and the government cannot permit systems failures like this. We must investigate this exhaustively, until we reach the end, assigning responsibilities and punishing those to blame with the full weight of the law."

The archive photo of the suspect dates back to October 2001 and was taken outside Sevilla provincial court.

Mari Luz investigators arrest neighbour
By: thinkSPAIN
Thursday, March 27, 2008

Santiago del Valle García (52) was arrested last Tuesday accused of the murder of five year old Mari Luz Cortés, whose dead body was found in an estuary near Huelva on March 7th.

Del Valle, who has a previous conviction for sexually abusing his own daughter, has since admitted under interrogation that he approached Mari Luz in the street on the day she went missing then took her to his home "to show her a toy". He claims that Mari Luz died after falling down the stairs and banging her head.

Del Valle and his wife, Isabel, were arrested in the town of Pajaroncillo on Tuesday as they were waiting for a bus to Cuenca though Isabel has since been released without charge. However, Del Valle's sister, Rosa, has been arrested and is accused of helping her brother dispose of Mari Luz's body.

Del Valle, who lived close to Mari Luz's family in Huelva, was one of the first people questioned following the little girl's disappearance on January 13th, but was released without charge.

However, as a result of subsequent media pressure and the hostile reaction of his fellow residents, Del Valle and his wife moved to Pajaroncillo, where they were living in rented accommodation.

It seems that the arrest results from fresh evidence that has come to light since the autopsy on Mari Luz's body, which concluded that she died of asphyxiation.

Yesterday evening, a large crowd of Gypsies from Cuenca Evangelical Church gathered outside Cuenca police station, where Del Valle was being interrogated, brandishing placards with messages of support for Mari Luz's family and chanting slogans such as "We want justice" and "He's not mad, he's a murderer."

Mari Luz autopsy leaves unanswered questions
By: thinkSPAIN
Tuesday, March 11, 2008

According to a report in today's ABC, neither of the two autopsies performed on little Mari Luz Cortés - the five year old girl whose body was discovered in an estuary near Huelva last Friday - has established whether she was murdered or died accidentally.

The autopsies did reveal that Mari Luz sustained a broken rib and a head injury, but it appears that neither were responsible for her death and may have been caused post-mortem as a result of the body washing up against rocks.

It is clear that the girl died within 48 hours of her disappearance and was neither raped nor strangled, though the condition of the corpse made it impossible for asphyxia to be ruled out.

Mari Luz disappeared from near her home in the city's El Torrejón district on the evening of January 13th and was found more than a kilometre away, leading investigators to conclude that it is unlikely that she arrived there unaccompanied on foot, especially given that she would have had to cross a busy main road to get there.

However, there are various ditches and drains that lead directly from the El Torrejón district where Mari Luz lived to the estuary where her body was found.

Thousands of mourners turned out to support Mari Luz's grieving family at her funeral yesterday (photo).

Missing Huelva girl's body found
By: thinkSPAIN
Friday, March 7, 2008

It has been confirmed that the body found earlier this evening near the petrol dock in Huelva harbour is that of Mari Luz Cortés, a 5 year old Gypsy girl who went missing from near her home in Huelva's El Torrejón district on January 13th.

The body, which is said to be badly decomposed, was found at around 6pm and taken to Huelva port.

It was dressed in the clothes that Mari Luz was last seen wearing.

An autopsy will be performed this evening though it seems that there were obvious signs of a serious head injury.

The girl's mother, Irene Suárez, fainted when she was told the news and is being comforted by a large crowd of family and friends who have gathered to express their grief and support.