The brutal murder of a British pensioner by robbers in Spain has spread fear among expatriates that Eastern European gangs are deliberately targeting them.

Janette May Grocutt, 74, was stabbed to death on Friday as she tried to fight off thieves who were ransacking her home in the village of Paredón near Alicante. Douglas, her bedridden husband, heard his wife’s screams from upstairs but was unable to come to her help.

The couple, who moved to Paredón six years ago and ran a campsite, are thought to be the latest victims of a spate of organised robberies. Gangs from Romania, Albania and Kosovo, as well as Latin America and North Africa, are targeting foreign residents and second homeowners because they believe them to be rich.

Britain’s expats are considered easy targets by criminals because many of them live in isolated villages and are not fully integrated into the Spanish community.

Charles Svoboda, a former Canadian diplomat living in Alicante, told The Times: “There is an increasing tendency for expats to be attacked and robbed in their own homes. The economy is not doing well and a lot of illegal immigrants find that they do not have work any more.

“Increasingly, you are seeing the emergence of gangs of mainly Eastern Europeans, but also some North Africans and Latin Americans.

“I have heard of armed robberies targeting expats where one of the householders was kept at home at gunpoint and the other was forced to take all of their money out of the bank.”

Mrs Grocutt’s body was discovered in her home by a British neighbour. Her husband was still lying ill in his bed. Another neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “There have been many burglaries in the area and people have been worried that something terrible like this would happen.”

Mr Grocutt, who was left uninjured by the thieves, was being treated in hospital for shock. Police refused to say if anyone had been arrested.

Paredón, which is set in the hills and surrounded by pine forests, vineyards, olive and almond groves, is extremely popular with British expats. The Grocutts’ house is in an isolated location.

Mr Svoboda, who runs a group offering protection for small homeowners against Spanish land-law abuses, said: “A lot of expats either live in very isolated areas, or in built-up areas where very few people live all year around. A lot of them do not talk to each other. The British do not talk to the Germans, the Germans do not talk to the Swiss and nobody talks to the French, so you get these people who are very isolated and who are perfect pickings for gangs.”

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said that the British consulate, which has a branch in Alicante, kept residents regularly up to date with crime trends by holding meetings and posting the latest information on its website. The latest crime advice would also be posted on the website of the Spanish Interior Ministry.

The website for the FCO gives warning only of street crime in major built-up areas and “highway pirates”, who target foreign and rental cars throughout the country. There is no warning about armed robberies and the spokesman could not say whether such crimes were increasing.

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