Diego Valencia
Died 25 January 2023
Who they were
Diego was married with two children. He had run a flower shop until he retired to devote himself to the church of Nuestra Señora de La Palma, serving as sacristan in the parish of his whole life. He arranged the flowers on many of the town's Holy Week processional floats. The head of the brotherhood remembered him as "kind to everyone, always ready to help".
What happened
On the evening of Wednesday 25 January 2023, a man armed with a machete entered two churches in Algeciras. Diego tried to make him leave La Palma church and was killed in the square outside; a priest was injured. The court found the attacker had acted in an acute psychosis, exempted him from criminal liability and ordered up to 30 years in a secure psychiatric prison unit (upheld April 2026; appealed to the Supreme Court).
Verdict / confirmation
Audiencia Nacional, 28 Nov 2025: acts proven (murder), exempt from liability (acute psychosis), internment max. 30 years; Sala de Apelación upheld 10 Apr 2026; cassation appeal by family/prosecutor admitted by Tribunal Supremo (June 2026) – not final.
Status: cassation appeal by family/prosecutor admitted by Tribunal Supremo (June 2026) – not final
Perpetrator: A Moroccan national living irregularly in Spain with a pending expulsion order (El Mundo, Europa Sur, CGPJ).