More British dream retirement homes to be demolished in Spanish planning row

Earlier this week, the home of pensioners Len and Helen Prior, on the south coast, was demolished in front of them.

And yesterday the regional Andalusian government said: 'Ten more houses in that area were illegally built and will be demolished.'

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Moment of truth: The walls of the villa come crashing down

At least four in the village belong to Britons. Others belong to German, Swedish and Spanish families.

An estimated 100,000 homes have been built on protected land during a ten-year housing boom along Spain's 1,000-mile Mediterranean coastline.

Thousands of Britons bought homes in Spain only to discover they had been illegally granted planning permission by town halls.

Now a senior prosecutor has demanded that all those built illegally must be demolished.

On Wednesday, Mrs Prior, who is 64 today, watched as a mechanical digger began knocking down her detached £350,000 retirement home in the village of Vera, Almeria.

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Distraught: The couple watch as the bulldozers move in

Destroyed: The Priors' dream home is torn down

Her husband, 63, who has a heart condition, collapsed and was taken to hospital when a demolition team arrived. He was released after a check-up.

The Priors, who are being put up in a flat provided by the town hall, received a demolition order last month informing them their house was to be demolished, despite their lawyer's assurances that there was no problem.

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Helen (with her neighbours) watches her retirement home being demolished

One Briton, whose home has been deemed illegal, fears his £450,000 home will be next.

John Bull, 66, a retired engineer, and his wife Christine, 64, bought a three-bedroom villa 600 yards from the Priors' house six years ago.

He said: "Watching poor Len and Helen's house being demolished has brought home the realisation that we could be next."

The couple moved to Vera after selling their home in Worthing, West Sussex, in search of a dream life in the sunshine.

"We love the house and everything was perfect for the first three years. Then we had a phone call saying it had been deemed illegal and was going to be knocked down.

"We challenged that decision in the courts but lost. If they knock it down we will have nowhere to go."

Antonio Vercher, the chief state prosecutor in charge of protecting Spain's environment, ordered prosecutors throughout the country to be relentless in pursuing demolition orders. Thousands of expats were

duped into buying homes that should never have been built.

Most bought in good faith using reliable solicitors and established developers and estate agents.

Bribes, corruption and backhanders between developers and town planners have been commonplace.

But Mr Vercher has said he is in favour of demolishing houses and leaving homeowners to seek compensation from builders in the civil courts.

In October, 2006, Spain launched a specialist police force to investigate corruption in urban planning.

Some 30,000 homes have been built illegally in Marbella, on the Costa del Sol, where a £2billion corruption scandal has resulted in the arrests of the mayor, head of planning and 50 other officials.

In Catral, near Alicante, on the Costa Blanca, 1,270 homes owned by Britons and worth an average of £200,000 have been threatened with demolition.