'Cold' couple used dating app to lure man they then buried alive

The couple also face further sentences related to two other cases of kidnapping. Photo / Getty Images

A couple who used a dating app to kidnap men and then torture them have been jailed for killing someone by burying them alive.

In a case that has shocked Spain, Hendangeline Candy Arrieta, from Venezuela and Mohamed Achraf, from Morocco, lured a Basque businessman on Badoo to drive 321km for a date with the woman, who called herself "Sweet Angel".

But when José Antonio Delgado met Arrieta at a train station outside Zaragoza, he was immediately assaulted by Achraf. The 54-year-old was bundled into his car, bound and driven to a nearby warehouse.

Thanks to data location, the police established that Delgado was kept for two days in early September 2019 in the warehouse, where he was bound to a chair and beaten with blunt instruments as his kidnappers demanded information about his bank accounts.

Achraf later withdrew €1500 ($2506) from Delgado's bank account and also sold his luxury Mercedes, receiving around €10,000 in cash.

Delgado's body was found in a shallow grave just over two weeks after being reported missing.

He had nine broken ribs and severe head wounds. Forensic pathologists also found soil in his throat and stomach, something they said was "unequivocal proof of an attempt to survive after being buried". Arrieta and Achraf, both in their mid-thirties, were each sentenced to 34 years in prison for kidnapping and murder.

Víctor Delgado, the victim's brother, said he hoped the couple "rotted in jail"."They are so cold. Killing must just be a part of their lives," he said.

The couple also faces further sentences related to two other cases of kidnapping from the summer of 2019, both involving men who arranged to meet Arrieta via the same dating app.

She claimed to be a 24-year-old from the Dominican Republic.

The first victim said the couple tortured him with electric shocks. He was let go after he gave them €55, a mobile phone and an old Renault Clio.

Arrieta and Achraf are also accused of torturing and extorting money at gunpoint from a 58-year-old, who said they broke his leg.