Mayka Kukucova trial: model admits shooting ex-boyfriend

A Slovakian model accused of murdering her British ex-boyfriend in Spain has appeared in court for the first day of her trial.

Andrew Bush, a millionaire jeweller, originally from Bristol, was found dead at his Marbella mansion on the Costa del Sol in April 2014. The prosecution claims the 48-year-old died after being shot once in the shoulder and twice in the head.

Mayka Kukucova, 26, handed herself in to the authorities in Slovakia four days after the shooting and was extradited back to Spain. She has not entered a plea but admits that she was the one to shoot Bush.

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What happened on the first day in court?

Appearing in front of a jury for the first time at the Ciudad de la Justicia in Malaga on Monday, Kukucova broke down in tears and denied deliberately killing Bush. Her defence lawyer told the court: "My client shot him." However, he claimed she was not a murderer and the jury would have to decide if Bush was killed "in an aggressive way or as a method of defence".

What is Kukucova's version of the events?

She claims they had fought with one another at his house and that the shots were fired during the confrontation.

Kukucova met Bush when she worked at his jewellery shop in Bristol and they were together for two and a half years. She says she had gone to collect her things when he unexpectedly returned to the house with his new girlfriend. After telling the new girlfriend to wait in the car, he apparently confronted Kukucova.

"He started shouting and hitting me and took me strongly by the arms. I said I wanted to go but he said no. He was shouting that he was going to kill me and my family," she told the jury.

They struggled on the stairs, she said. "Then the gun was in my hands. I threw myself on him and we were fighting and then the gun went off. I couldn't hear anything. I was just trying to get away. I didn't want to hurt him," claimed Kukucova.

She says there was then another struggle, adding: "I don't know how many times the gun went off."

Who is Maria Korotaeva?

Korotaeva was Bush's new Russian girlfriend, who had met him while she was studying as an undergraduate at the University of the West of England in Bristol.