A 33-year-old Ecuadorian man killed his 25-year-old Spanish girlfriend yesterday evening in the rented apartment they shared together on the Avenida Ecuador in Valencia's Benicalap district.

When the emergency services arrived on the scene, they could could do nothing to save the life of the woman, but the man is now under police guard at La Fe Hospital in Valencia after trying to commit suicide by slitting his own throat.

The residential block where the couple lived had to be temporarily evacuated after residents reported a strong smell of gas emanating from their apartment.