man jailed for murdering a former drugs trafficker in a Spanish tourist hotspot has had an appeal against his sentence thrown out.

Adrian Stuart Marshall, 50, from Newcastle, was put behind bars for 16 years after he brutally beat to death fellow expat Colin Nobes alongside Birmingham man Lindsay Slade on the Costa Blanca.

Spain’s Supreme Court heard the cruel pair attacked Nobes in June 2005 at the popular seaside resort of Javea.

The court also dismissed an appeal by accomplice Bridget Elizabeth Stokes, 49, from Darlington, who helped the men cover their tracks. She was sentenced to 21 months for her part.

The violent events unfolded after Nobes’ former German girlfriend asked the two killers to visit a resort home she owned to check if the convicted drug dealer was living there.

When the duo arrived, Nobes, apparently ready for them, came out to greet them brandishing two knives.

Nobes was known to have run several sex clubs in and around Denia and was thought to be the target of a number of drugs barons.


He was arrested in January 1996 in Denia and sent to jail in Cartegna on suspicion of smuggling £27.5m of cannabis into Spain.

On his release he lived a Champagne lifestyle, cashing in on the lapdancing and sex club trade.

He also had an eye wound from a hammer attack carried out on him while he was on the run in Spain after a previous prison escape in the 90s.

That came about in June 1995 he was jailed at Portsmouth Crown Court for handling a stolen motor-cruiser and for delivering a stolen car to the Channel Islands.