Sister's Pain Over Inspiration Behind Killing Eve

Real-life Villanelle gunned down my brother and then drank champagne to toast his murder

- Amy Sharpe And Gerard Couzens

They both have piercing eyes, a passion for fashion and a lust for lovers... and blood.

One is fictional – Villanelle, the female assassin played by Jodie Comer in hit TV series Killing Eve.

The other is Idoia López Riaño – once Spain’s most-wanted killer and the inspiration for Villanelle.

Like the TV character, Riaño was obsessed with her image and was nicknamed La Tigresa – The Tigress – for her sexual prowess.

As part of Basque terrorist group ETA, she was behind 23 murders, including at least 17 paramilitary police, and served 23 years in jail.

British author Luke Jennings wrote Codename Villanelle – which inspired Killing Eve – after reading about Riaño.

PAIN

He said: “She was clearly a psychopath and completely, completely without empathy.”

And today, the sister of Riaño’s second victim relives her pain and tells how the murderer, then aged just 20, toasted his death with champagne.

Tugboat worker Ángel Manuel Facal Soto, 42, was shot as he ate a sandwich in the streets of Pasajes, near San Sebastian, in 1985.

Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Mirror, Carmen Facal said: “Riaño was much more bloodthirsty than the typical ETA terrorist. I’m sure Angel’s murder wasn’t something she was ordered to do but decided to do off her own bat to make a name for herself.

“After that woman and her accomplice killed Angel, the police told me they drove a mile down the road to a bar and celebrated it with champagne with their cohorts.”

Mum-of-two Carmen believes Luke was right to base his villain on Riaño, who was freed in 2017.