Solicitors representing the family of Jean Reilly (33), from Drogheda, will now contact the Spanish authorities after State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy told an inquest into her death last week that she sustained bruising along her jaw line and scalp, as well as deep bruising to her arms which could not be explained by drowning. The pathologist could not rule out third-party involvement. The jury at Dublin County Coroner's Court on Tuesday returned an open verdict.

Reilly was living in Majorca with her English boyfriend when she drowned in the sea on 29 August 2006. Her father told the Sunday Tribune this weekend that her boyfriend was violent and they had ongoing concerns about their daughter living with him.

"The week before she was found dead, she had been home for a week's holiday.

But he came over and dragged her back, quite literally. When he found her he got into a rage, pulled her out the door and then somehow talked her into going back to Majorca with him, " said her father, George Reilly.

"My daughter could not swim and there is no way she would have gone into the water. We do not believe she committed suicide."

Reilly had been in a relationship with the man for two-and-a-half years. "I only spoke to [her boyfriend] on the phone and he was very unpleasant. My other daughter met him a couple of times in Majorca when she was visiting her sister and said he was a psychopath.

He was very controlling and manipulative of Jean. I noticed a massive change in her after she started going out with him. She was under his control completely, " her father added.

The couple went on holidays in Vietnam shortly before Reilly's death. "She ran out on him when they were on holidays and that's when she came back here. She told us he was dangerous.

But he found her. Jean was a very quiet, kind-hearted and easygoing person. He took advantage of her good nature, " her father said.

Two days after she returned to Majorca with her boyfriend, she rang her sister Shirley in a panicked state and told her: "They're after me. They're following me." She did not explain who she was referring to but her sister told the inquest that she sounded extremely agitated. Three days later, she spoke to her sister again briefly but the phone went dead and she became concerned for her safety.

The next day Shirley spoke to Jean's boyfriend, and he told her the couple had had a blazing row the previous night in a nightclub. Two days later, he left a voicemail on Shirley Reilly's phone saying that Jean was fine. But on the same day, Sgt Ciaran Reidy of Drogheda garda station informed the Reilly family that Jean's body had been discovered on San Antonio beach.

The Spanish authorities recorded Reilly's death as suicide but Prof Cassidy, who carried out a second postmortem examination, said there was insufficient evidence to state with any certainty that Ms Reilly took her own life. She added that the standards for postmortems in Spain were not as high as those in Ireland and while a full external postmortem had been carried out on Reilly's body, there had only been a partial internal postmortem.

"The inquest verdict and Prof Cassidy's comments are enough to warrant a new investigation. Our solicitor has already been in touch with Spain. We have our own suspicions about what happened. We just hope that now, finally, the truth will come out, " said her father.

Following her death, her boyfriend told the Sunday Tribune he believed his girlfriend committed suicide as she was upset by the death of her mother six months previously. He strongly rejected playing any role in her death.