A Spanish Butcher has been arrested after he allegedly killed his pregnant girlfriend and then chopped up her body to feed in bite sized pieces to vultures.

Police believe Jose Miguel Tamayo, 32, murdered his girlfriend Carolina Bernal Gomez, 30, after discovering she was carrying a child.

Her remains are believed to have been fed to the birds at the only nature reserve in Europe which is home to wild vultures north of Madrid.

It is thought the man fed his girlfriend’s corpse to wild vultures in a nature reserve north of Madrid. (File photo)

The couple’s relationship was reportedly stormy before Ms Bernal Gomez, from South America, fell pregnant.

It is thought the butcher attacked his girlfriend when he heard the news, and took her body apart after realising he had killed her.

Police were suspicious as the man waited several weeks before reporting his her missing, and then offered contradictory statements to investigators in the capital.

‘The victim had not lodged any complaint of ill-treatment at any time and it seems as if it was a spur of the moment killing,’ said the deputy minister in Guadalajara, Juan Pablo Herranz.

Vultures are known for being able to sniff out dead flesh from up to a mile away, though most birds have no sense of smell.

The creatures are able to detect sulphurous chemical compounds found in decaying meat from their sky vantage point, and tend to circle around towards the ground until they have sourced the origin of the scent.

Read more: Daily Mail