A British man killed by a Spaniard with a garden hoe belonged to an “expat hooligan” community, the suspect’s lawyer said.

Martin Allwright, 59, died in hospital from head injuries on Aug 19 after being assaulted by one of his neighbours in southern Spain,

José Ramos has admitted striking Mr Allwright with a garden hoe but claims that the Briton threatened him first and he had previously reported his neighbour to the local police.

Defence lawyer José Ramón Cantalejo said his client is a Spaniard in his fifties with no criminal record who has cooperated with police investigators.

Mr Cantalejo said that Spaniards in villages like El Palacés de Zurgena in Almería – where the attack took place – “live in terror of these British residents, many of whom are complete hooligans”.

The village is an area popular with UK retirees.

The lawyer said many British people in the region “do not learn a single word of Spanish in 10 or 15 years and yet they think this is their territory.”

“These are people who sell their houses in Glasgow or Birmingham to retire here,” he added. “They live like royalty but they don’t adapt to the social reality of the country.”

Mr Allwright, from Exeter and whose wife has launched a GoFundMe campaign to pay legal fees for “justice”, caused the confrontation that led to the fatal assault, the lawyer claimed.

Mr Cantalejo said Mr Allwright advanced towards Mr Ramos and his wife with a stone in his hand and his “dangerous dogs”.

“All my client did was to put himself between this man and his wife, striking him with the first thing that came to hand,” he said.

The lawyer blamed the “lobby effect” of the 34,000-strong British community in Almería for pressuring the judge into remanding his client in custody despite his cooperation with the investigation.