Immediately prior to a preliminary court hearing in Estella (Navarra) yesterday morning, the former boyfriend of María Puy Pérez Ezpeleta, who has been missing since last Saturday, told journalists waiting outside on no fewer than four occasions that he was innocent.

The 50-year-old man is accused of breaking a court-imposed distancing order requested by Ms Ezpeleta, with whom he was seen on the day she disappeared. He is also charged with illegal arms possession after several weapons were found during a search of his home in Ayegui carried out last Monday.

However, the judge was forced to postpone the hearing until today after the suspect passed out in court, and had to be taken to hospital for tests.

Meanwhile, the search for the missing woman continues to focus on a stretch of the Ega river inside the Arínzano intensive fishing reserve, where she and her former lover used to enjoy walking.