British fugitive gunned down in Spain

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MALAGA, Spain, June 8 (UPI) -- A British fugitive who fled an attempted murder charge three years ago was shot dead in Spain while drinking in a bar in a coastal resort, police said.

The Spanish Civil Guard -- the country's national police -- said Daniel Smith's shooting Saturday night appeared to be the work of a contract killer, The Times of London reported.

The killer was on the back of a motorcycle, and the driver zoomed off after his passenger fired six shots.

Smith, 24, of Billericay in Essex was the third British citizen to die in a gangland-style killing in the Malaga area recently.

"It had the hallmarks of a gangland settling of scores," a spokesman for the Civil Guard said.

Smith is suspected of shooting Doug Turner in Essex almost three years ago, The Daily Telegraph reported. Turner was severely wounded.

Investigators believe Turner, 52, a businessman, was shot after being mistaken for someone else.

The other victims in Spain include a man whose body was found by a fisherman, and another who was fatally beaten as his girlfriend watched. Two weeks ago, another British citizen was arrested on drug-trafficking charges in a joint Spanish-British operation in Malaga.