This is the moment man accused of murdering his former partner in Benahavis tried to take his own life while being arrested in a remote woodland.

Footage shared by the Guardia Civil shows officers swarming the suspect in forest area near Istan on July 31, some 10 days after the brutal killing of a Hungarian expat inside her luxury home in Los Arqueros.

In a statement, the force said the man slashed his own throat with a box cutter as they closed in.

He had become their prime suspect after allegedly confessing to the crime in a diary that he left outside the home of a friend.

Police immediately provided first aid before paramedics arrived.

He was taken unconscious to the health centre in Istan before being transferred to the Costa del Sol Hospital, where he was discharged the following day.

He has since been remanded in custody and is being investigated for homicide and an alleged sexual offence committed in the context of gender violence.

Victim found with fatal neck wound

The investigation began on July 21, when a neighbour in the Las Jacarandas urbanisation called the emergency services after hearing a woman screaming for help.

The neighbour then saw a man hurriedly leaving the property and recorded him on a mobile phone before he drove away.

Paramedics arrived to find the victim, known only by her initials M.P., dead inside the home with a deep knife wound to her neck. Police also found her partially undressed, with her shirt and bra torn.

The suspect was quickly identified, but officers initially believed the case was not one of domestic violence because the pair were thought to be acquaintances rather than former partners.

Former couple had reunited as housemates

The suspect’s car was later found abandoned in Marbella, leading investigators to believe he had fled into the mountains around Istan.

During the search, police also worked to establish the true nature of the relationship between the pair.

The investigation has now confirmed that the suspect and the victim were in a relationship between 2018 and 2020.

Following their separation, the man returned to his home country, but the pair later resumed contact and had been living together as housemates at the time of the alleged murder.

The discovery means the case is now being investigated as a suspected case of domestic violence.

Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.