The ex-mayor of Polop de la Marina (Alicante), Juan Cano, today denied having anything to do with his predecessor's death and claimed that he was the victim of "an orchestrated campaign" against him and a "public lynching".

Alejandro Ponsoda (PP), who was mayor of Polop for 12 years, died in hospital in October 2007, days after being shot outside his house.  As well as Cano, who was Ponsoda's second in command at the time, another six people are being held on remand on suspicion of either carrying out or plotting the killing.

According to Alejandro Dapena, a lawyer for one of the alleged hitmen involved in the crime, Cano's statement was a "marathon" affair, lasting over five and a half hours.  Dapena added that Cano's statement had been "exhaustive" and that he had expressed himself "coherently and without hesitation", denying "over and again" the charges against him.

Cano also claimed that his imprisonment was "unjust" and that he had never before laid eyes on Dapena's Czech defendant, one of the alleged hitmen.

Amongst others in the courts with Cano today were the public prosecutor, the lawyers for the other alleged hitman and the shoe salesman, Salvador Roig, and Cano's legal representative, Salvador Ruiz Manero, supported by Javier Boix, a specialist in criminal law.

The lawyer representing Ponsoda's two daughters, Alberto Aliaga (pictured), was also present, and gave a very brief statement at the end of the day, confirming that Cano's statement had been "exhaustive and detailed".

Sources revealed that Cano had cast doubt over the Guardia Civil's line of enquiry, suggesting that the motive for the crime was to be found in Ponsoda's personal life, not in a quarrel of town planning, which has so far been considered the main reason for the murder.

Cano's arrest in November, two years after Ponsoda's murder, caused considerable commotion in the town of Polop, not only because Cano had been Ponsoda's righ-hand man, but also because in his new position as mayor of the town, he had repeatedly called for justice to be done.