Anti-Corruption prosecutors to be strengthened in Málaga

 

The State Attorney General, Eduardo Torres-Dulce, has said that there are plans to designate ‘one or two prosecutors’ more to the specialist Anti-Corruption section in the province of Málaga. He made the comment at an event where Juan Carlos López Caballero took possession as Chief Prosecutor for Málaga, a job which he was sharing with his post as Delegate from the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, where three prosecutors work. There have been complaints from prosecutors that only 8% of civil servants who work for the administration of justice do so in the prosecutors’ office, a number described as ‘totally insufficient’.

Health Minister announces crackdown on foreigners using the Spanish Health Service

The cabinet on Friday decided to crack down on foreigners using the Spanish Health Service as part of an additional 7 billion € of cuts. They intend to toughen the conditions for inclusion on the Padrón census. Minister for Health, Ana Mato, said ‘We are going to end the abuses committed by some foreigners’. She is going to change the Ley de Extranjería which intends to put a limit to the so-called ‘health tourism’, which has seen family members of foreign residents to come to Spain ‘exclusively’ to receive health attention. Ana Mato insisted that from now it will not be so easy to come to Spain, sign the Padrón census, and obtain a health card, as it has been. ‘Just getting on the Padrón they all had the right to the health card’, said the Minister. ‘Now there will be a series of additional requirements when the Padrón is issued’. She said to guarantee the universality of the Health Service ‘for all the Spaniards’ it was necessary to stop the illegal and undue use which some foreigners have been making of this service. On Thursday the Minister met with the regions and they agreed on a new article which will ‘explicitly prohibit a person moving regions in search of health attention'. The Minister considers these measures will do away with health tourism and save 1 billion €. Ana Mato also said that she was going to revise some international conventions on the matter, given that ‘many’ countries do not repay the money they owe Spain for the health attention given here to their citizens. Among the other measures approved, the end of paying for some medicaments ‘with little therapeutic value’. A list of included medicines accepted nationally is to be prepared. The Minister said ‘We all have to collaborate with those who having a worse time’.

Ryanair threatens surcharge on flights to Spain

 

Millions of its passengers – who have already booked and paid for their flights in full – may now be asked to pay an extra fee upon departure, or be told they are not allowed to board. The airline sent an email to customers this week warning them of the backdated fare. “We may be forced to debit passengers for any government imposed increases in airport charges prior to your travel date,” its message read. “If any such tax, fee or charge is introduced or increased after your reservation has been made you will be obliged to pay it (or any increase) prior to departure”.

Mike Tyson has for the first time revealed his lowest point ever in a searingly candid interview.

Once known as the ‘baddest man on the planet’, his life has taken more than a few dark twists and turns.

But now Mike Tyson has for the first time revealed his lowest point ever in a searingly candid interview.

The former heavyweight champion said that back in 2009 he was in a hotel room with seven prostitutes, a morphine drip in his arm, a pile of cocaine and a bottle of cognac when he began to feel paranoid.

Candid: The former world champion gave his most honest interview yet - revealing the drug-fuelled night that made him turn his life around and get clean and sober

Convinced the women were trying to steal from him he started beating them up and threw them out - to stop them from 'taking his soul'.

 

 Tyson said: ‘That’s when I realised it wasn’t just demons - it was the devil himself.

‘It was the lowest point of a very low life, but it was my own knockout punch to clean up life, get whole, get well - and I haven’t done anything in three years now. 

‘I’m clean. I’m sober.’

Tyson’s recently swapped the boxing ring for the cabaret stage in a six night comedy show at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas, where some of his biggest fights took place.

World Champion: Mike Tyson lands the knockout punch to the jaw of challenger Larry Holmes during fourth round of the World Heavyweight Championship in Atlantic City 1988

 

In an interview with Las Vegas Weekly to promote the show, he was asked to talk about the moment he realised he had to turn his life around.

Tyson, 45 said: ‘Laying in bed in a hotel room - I try never to be alone, even if it’s a prostitute, a dog. 

‘This is really dark. I am in my hotel suite, I’ve got seven women there, and I have a morphine drip, and I had my cocaine, and I had my (Viagra like pill) Cialis, I had my marijuana, I had the Hennessy, and I am at my lowest point because I got paranoid and I thought these women were trying to rob me and set me up. 

‘I started beating them. I was in a dark place. There was a purpose, though, because I didn’t want to give them any more of my soul.

‘So this is my devil, this is where I am, I am locked up alone. There is nobody there telling me that I’m doing too much. 

Troubled: Tyson's first marriage to actress Robin Givens fell apart amid allegations of him being violent - he is now married for the third time

 

Mug shot: In 1992 Tyson was jailed for raping Desiree Washington - a beauty pageant contestant - he was released from prison after three years

‘That is the devil, he won. I kicked them all out. So that was my lowest point. Oh, man. I am just very grateful to be here - my heart should have blown apart. I was sweating wide awake. No more cocaine. No more. Three years clean.’

In his turbulent life Tyson has been married three times, fathered eight children and became the youngest heavyweight champion the world has ever seen at just 20.

But fame ruined him and his troubled upbringing - his mother was a prostitute and he never knew his pimp father - came back to haunt him.

In the interview he claimed to have earned $300million in winnings but admitted that he was so bad with money he was ‘forced to live paycheck to paycheck’.

In 1992, three years after his first marriage to actress Robin Givens fell apart, he was jailed for six years for raping Desiree Washington, a contestant in the Miss Black America pageant.

Released having served three years, he fought Evander Holyfield in the fight that became one of the most notorious bouts in boxing history when he bit part of his opponent’s ear off.

Reflecting on his life Tyson told Las Vegas Weekly that he was now the happiest he has ever been, and is just trying to be a good husband to his third wife, and a good father to his children.

Tyson said: ‘In order to wear the crown, you have to have a miserable life, and that is the one that inherits the crown. 

‘I don’t know, you have to go from the worst to reach the best. I’m just that extreme type of person. That is who I am, the guy that has no limits.’

EU condemns Repsol state seizure

 The European Parliament has passed a resolution condemning a nationalisation that has strained relations between Spain and Argentina. Argentina has nationalised YPF, wiping out the Spanish firm Repsol's controlling-stake in the oil firm. The resolution asks the European Commission to consider a "partial suspension" of tariffs that benefit Argentine exports into the EU. Shares in Repsol has another decline, falling 2.3% on Friday. Over the week, Repsol stock has lost almost a fifth of its value. MEPs in the European Parliament said the institution "deplores" the decision taken by Argentina and describes it as an "attack on the exercise of free enterprise". Decisions such as that taken by the Argentine authorities "can put a strain on the climate of understanding and friendship needed to reach" a trade agreement between a South American bloc and the EU, it said. The resolution, which is non-binding, received 458 votes in favour, 71 against and 16 abstentions. 'Not valid' It also emerged that Repsol may be obliged to buy a minority shareholder's YPF stake if it ever lost majority control, which Repsol denied. Twenty-five percent of YPF is owned by Argentina's Eskenazi family through its firm, Peterson. Continue reading the main story Nationalising YPF Spain's Repsol has hitherto owned 57.4% of shares with 25.5% belonging to Argentina's Petersen, 0.02% to the Argentine government and 17% traded on stock exchanges The Argentine government proposes to seize 51% of the shares, all of which will be taken from Repsol's stake, leaving the Spanish firm with 6.4% The expropriated shares will in turn be divided between the Argentine government and provincial governors Following the expropriation, Petersen will retain its 25.5% stake and 17% of the shares will continue to be traded Argentina's risky energy seizure According to regulator filings of a 2008 agreement, Repsol must "maintain directly or indirectly through controlled companies an ownership interest greater than or equal to 50.1%". If it does not, Repsol is obliged to buy back the loans used to secure the Eskenazis' shares. But Repsol told the BBC that the expropriation of its stake in YPF had invalidated the agreement. "The agreement is not valid under Spanish law in these conditions," said Kristian Rix, a Repsol spokesman. "The law is unequivocal, there is no debate." Trade war brewing? Spain has threatened retaliation against Argentina over the forced nationalisation of oil firm YPF, raising the prospects of a trade war between the nations. Spanish Trade Secretary Jaime Garcia Legaz said the European Union would intervene over Argentina's seizure of YPF. Argentina is taking over 51% of YPF, wiping out Repsol's 57.4% majority stake. The move has wide support in Argentina but has provoked outrage in Spain. Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had also offered support. Repsol has said it wants around $10bn (£6.2bn) for its stake in YPF, but Argentina has said it does not accept that valuation. YPF, Argentina's biggest oil company, was privatised in 1993. Last year it announced huge new finds of shale oil and gas.

Spain police investigate Madeleine McCann 'sighting'

Spanish police are investigating a reported sighting of Madeleine McCann in a Costa del Sol resort. Specialist officers are following up a tip-off received about 10 days ago that a girl resembling the missing British child was spotted in Nerja, 30 miles east of Malaga, sources said. The possible sighting is being handled by the specialised and violent crime unit (unidad de delincuencia especializada y violenta, or UDEV) of Spain's judicial police, the Malaga-based Sur newspaper reported. It is understood that Scotland Yard detectives reviewing the case are liaising with their Spanish counterparts about the latest lead. Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday flat in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 2007 as her parents Kate and Gerry McCann dined with friends nearby. There have been hundreds of possible sightings of her all over the world since she vanished, but so far they have all come to nothing. Her parents are preparing to mark the fifth anniversary of her disappearance next month. McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry are aware of this particular report from Spain. It was absolutely right that the police investigate any potential lead. "Kate and Gerry remain very grateful for the co-operation of the police in the search for Madeleine."

Ian Donaldson, 32, accused of ­funding his multi-millionaire lifestyle from the proceeds of an international drugs empire.

Ian Donaldson, 32, bought a fleet of Ferraris, Porsches, Lamborghinis and Hummers with cash made from trafficking cocaine and speed from Spain to Scotland, it is claimed.

Donaldson also owned luxury villas and powerboats and enjoyed a playboy lifestyle on the Costa del Sol and Tenerife.

But last week the Spanish National Court in Madrid heard sensational claims that he was the money man for a gang of drug-smugglers led by fellow Glaswegian Ronald O’Dea, 45.

Prosecutors claim Donaldson spent at least £7.2million on cars and property, funded by his lucrative smuggling operation.

Lead prosecutor Dolores Lopez Salcedo is demanding hefty sentences for the gang, including 21 years for alleged ringleader O’Dea and 18 years for Donaldson.

She also wants Donaldson to be fined a staggering £24million.

Ms Salcedo outlined an incredible fleet of supercars seized from Donaldson – a Ferrari F430 Spider, a Ferrari 599GTB Fiorano, two Hummers, a Porsche Cayenne turbo, an Audi Q7 4x4, two BMWs and a Mercedes 63 AMG.

The court was told Donaldson and his fellow gang members spent their days in bars and restaurants on the Costa del Sol and the holiday island of Tenerife.

It was there that they are alleged to have plotted the transfer of massive consignments of drugs to the UK.

Spanish police launched an undercover surveillance operation following a tip-off from their British counterparts.

By tapping the gang’s mobile phones, Spanish detectives discovered a consignment was about to be smuggled in a lorry travelling by ferry from Calais to Dover.

British police swooped on the vehicle on the M40 in Oxfordshire and seized 68.5kg of amphetamines in 29 bags hidden in tanks of liquid used to clean cows’ udders.

Donaldson and O’Dea, pictured, went on trial last week with fellow Scots Jim MacDonald, 62, and Mary Hendry and Londoners Steve Brown, 45, and Deborah Learmouth, 49.

A panel of three judges were told that Operation Sendero began in July 2008 when detectives from the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency emailed the Drugs and Organised Crime Squad in Madrid.

They provided the names and telephone numbers of several British drug-trafficking suspects based in Spain.

Spanish police began a surveillance and phone-tapping operation under the supervision of an investigative judge.

The court heard the suspects used evasive driving techniques to try to avoid being followed and used codes and nicknames while speaking on their mobile phones.

Donaldson, who is 5ft 8in, was nicknamed The Kid while 6ft Steve Brown was referred to as The Big Man.

The inspector who led the investigation told the court: “While under surveillance they enjoyed their days, they went out to eat in restaurants, they went to bars. In their phone conversations none of them ever mentioned work, a business or a job, nothing.

“Ian Donaldson had a level of life that was extremely agreeable, with holidays and luxury cars.

“He went out in the marina area of Marbella and in Tenerife, as well as on a yacht. He had a large villa in Tenerife.

“From the telephone conversations between other suspects it was deduced that Ian controlled the money.”

Donaldson, once cleared of a gangland kidnap in Scotland, was the director of Tenerife-based Ian’s Sports Cars Ltd, which was supposed to buy and sell luxury cars.

But the detective said the company was merely a front for drugs money.

He added: “The company did not really exist, it had no commercial activity.”

The Spanish police also claim Donaldson was protected by hefty bodyguards who escorted him to and from the millionaires’ playground of Puerto Banus.

One undercover officer told the court: “We followed him one day from one of his houses down to the boat in Puerto Banus.

“He had people in vehicles in front and behind him. They were in two Hummers. The men were very well-built, very strong.”

On September 22, 2008, Donaldson and three others were stopped at Glasgow Airport attempting to board a Globespan flight to Malaga with £50,000 hidden in their luggage.

The money was confiscated and Donaldson was released.

It was claimed that after this the gang began preparing the shipment of speed that was eventually seized in Oxfordshire.

After the shipment was discovered, Spanish cops swooped on dozens of properties including Donaldson’s £1million villa in the south of Tenerife.

The fleet of luxury cars was seized during that raid and police also found 11 mobile phones and 20 SIM cards in the villa.

Donaldson was arrested in Scotland on an international warrant in March 2009 and was extradited to Madrid four months later.

He spent more than a year on remand before being released on bail of £135,000.

His fortified home in Renton, Dunbartonshire, was raided by the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency in July 2009.

Donaldson gave evidence in Madrid on Wednesday, claiming he was a legitimate businessman who made his money from a number of ventures in Scotland in Spain.

He is a director of a Scottish company IRD Services Ltd, which rents out construction machinery, and was also part-owner of Scruffy Murphys nightclub in Gran Canaria until 2007.

He said he made an average of £10,000 per week from the nightclub alone.

Donaldson said: “I was involved in buying and selling cars and houses in Scotland from a very young age.

“There were different avenues for making money. I received money from my Scottish company, my Tenerife company and my Gran Canaria company.

“In Spain I sell cars for cash. I have sold more than 30 luxury cars.”

Donaldson denied prosecution claims he owns a powerboat, Wee Joe II, and that he sold another boat for almost £1million.

Powerfully built O’Dea told the court he made his money from his company ­Fountain Drinks, which supplies soft drinks, beers and ­spirits to restaurants and bars in Scotland.

O’Dea, who owns a £687,000 mansion in Marbella, is described by prosecutors as “the leader of the group”.

He told the court he travelled between Spain and Scotland every two weeks to visit his son.

Ms Salcedo said the pair deserved long prison terms for their role in drug- trafficking and money- laundering operations.

She has also demanded heavy sentences for the rest of the gang.

MacDonald, accused of being in charge of transporting the drugs, should get at least 18 years, while Brown, who also faces forgery charges, could get 20 years.

Learmouth, a travel agent who has lived in Spain for 25 years, faces nine years for drugs offences while ­Hendry faces five years for money-laundering.

Two other defendants – Brian Rawlings, 66, and Joseph Campbell, 52 – were on bail and failed to show at the trial.

All deny the charges and the trial continues.

Death Row Granny may soon be executed

 

IN her final plea for clemency, a Kittitian of Anguillan parentage, whom the media have dubbed ‘Death Row Granny’, has called on the British government to save her from becoming the first female of that country to be executed in 50 years.   She is 53-year-old Linda Anita Carty, who holds a UK dependent territory passport and has spent 10 years on Death Row in the Mountain View Unit women’s prison outside Gatesville in Texas after being convicted and sentenced to death in 2002.   According to Mail Online, Carty in an emotional plea said, “I wouldn't ask the British Government to lobby for me if I knew that I was guilty, because it would be an embarrassment to myself and my family, but also to the country that I love. When I say that I am innocent and that I didn’t commit this crime, I mean that.”   Carty was sentenced to death by lethal injection for the murder of her neighbour in Texas, Joana Rodriguez (25), and plotted with three men to steal the woman’s son, Ray.   Evidence presented at her trial in 2002 stated that on May 16, 2001, three men, Chris Robinson, Gerald Anderson and Carlos Williams, invaded the apartment of Rodriguez, beat her up and duct taped her partner (Raymundo Cabrera) and another individual after beating them also, and abducted the woman and her three-day-old son.   Further evidence submitted in the trial stated that the abductors hog-tied Rodriguez with duct tape, put a plastic bag over her head and placed her in the trunk of a car rented by Carty. Rodriguez died from suffocation but her son was found unharmed in the back seat of another car.   The three men, who were convicted criminals, pleaded guilty to lesser charges and claimed that Carty had recruited them to help kidnap and murder Rodriguez so she could have the young woman’s baby.   Carty however pleaded not guilty and to date maintains her innocence. She said the three men were former drugs traffickers who wanted revenge on her for her work as a secret informant for the US Drug Enforcement Administration.   Following her death sentence, Carty, on Friday, September 18, 2009, had lost her appeal to the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and was denied review by the US Supreme Court in June 2010.   According to Mail Online, Carty’s request for a retrial was based on claims she was given inadequate legal support during her original trial and the government were blocked in their efforts to help her.   Her daughter, Jovelle Carty-Joubert, has been rallying British MPs for support for two years following the US Supreme Court's refusal to re-open her case. And the Foreign Office said it was lobbying the Texas authorities to stop her execution.   A statement said: “The Prime Minister and British Government are deeply concerned.”   It was reported that at her trial, Carty was forced to accept a local court-appointed lawyer, Jerry Guerinot, whose alleged incompetence had already led to 20 of his clients ending up on death row, more than any other defence lawyer in the US.   Media houses reported that Guerinot’s catalogue of serious failings in Carty’s case include:   • Failure to spot obvious flaws and inconsistencies in the prosecution case; • Failure to spend more than 15 minutes with Carty before the trial; • Failure to investigate key mitigating evidence; • Failure to inform Carty, a British citizen, of her right to consular assistance; and • Failure to inform her husband of his right not to testify against his wife.   Also, based on the testimony of their informants, the prosecution’s theory was that Carty was afraid of losing her husband and thought that if she had another baby he would stay.   The prosecution alleged that she was unable to get pregnant and had hired three men to kidnap Rodriguez and that she planned to “cut the child out” of the pregnant mother.   According to one online media house, the baby is of a different race to Carty and “the utter implausibility of this theory should have been obvious: Joana Rodriguez had already given birth to the child, as Linda clearly knew, being her neighbour. Since the baby would be a difference race to Linda, she could not possibly pass it off as her own. When the prosecution produced ‘the scissors’ that Linda was supposedly going to use to cut the child out, Guerinot failed to point out that they were bandage scissors, with a rounded end, obviously useless for any such purpose”.   Linda Anita Carty, also known as Linda Hunte, is a former resident of Old Road and was a primary school teacher in St. Kitts before migrating to England and subsequently to the US.

Incarcaration in Spain is the highest in Western Europe

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What are these types of crime? Apart from the regional government proposal on forest fires, which seems to be due directly to the recent fire, the plan of the Interior, working with the Ministry of Justice in a bilateral commission which, among others, are the Secretaries of State of both departments, revolves around two blocks: the fight against multirreincidencia and increased penalties related to the maintenance of public order. The processing of both reforms to be separated in time, according to Ulloa, because the government wants to give some urgency to the fight against crimes of resisting arrest and vandalism. The idea is to have the Executive’s first organic bill ready before the summer and wait a little longer for the other part of the modification of the code related to multirreincidencia.

Crime rates, however, are of the lowest

“The reasons which the Government justify the penal reforms are based on subjective grounds,” says Julian Rios, Professor of Criminal Law and Corrections at the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas. “Sensations, perceptions, impressions are the most repeated words in the hearings and statements by the Ministers of Interior and Justice, without any empirically verifiable data input. If we turn to the latest statistical data referring to 2010, the Report of the DPP, it is verified that the quantitative evolution of criminal cases in which the Attorney General intervened ‘reveals an extremely positive result, derived from a significant decrease in the number of cases filed in relation to those recorded for the same concepts in 2009 ‘, as stated in the text. Our crime rate is low and is declining rates and the feeling of insecurity has more to do with a message amplified by certain media of specific events with a real increase of insecurity “.

“Our intention is in no case resort to the criminal law as a first response,” said for his part, Secretary of State for Security, Ignacio Ulloa. “The criminal response must be the least and last. But misconduct is not now have an appropriate approach. And when it detects a hole or crack is legal to offer a solution. “

Four men aged between 19 and 28 have been identified and arrested by the Judiciary Police on suspicion of attempted murder.

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Four men aged between 19 and 28 have been identified and arrested by the Judiciary Police on suspicion of attempted murder.

The case dates back to September last year when during an event in Beja the four suspects became involved in an argument with another group of youths. They are thought to have stabbed two of the youths several times before fleeing the scene in a car. Only now have the police manage to identify and arrest the suspects. It is believed that the stabbings took place near the Vidigueira campsite in the early hours of the morning, during an annual music festival.

postponed a trial that was to decide an extradition request lodged to bring British national Graham Mitchell back to the Algarve, to be re-tried for an attempted murder he was acquitted of in 1995, until 20 April.

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Portuguese authorities have postponed a trial that was to decide an extradition request lodged to bring British national Graham Mitchell back to the Algarve, to be re-tried for an attempted murder he was acquitted of in 1995, until 20 April.

The case itself dates back to 1994 when Mitchell and a friend were arrested in the Algarve on the suspicion of having assaulted a German national, leaving him paralysed after allegedly pushing him over a wall.

After 11 months awaiting trial in jail the two Britons were eventually tried for attempted murder and acquitted in May 1995, having been given their passports back and free to return home.

Last week the General Attorney’s Office (PGR) explained that the “judgment was of acquittal but did not go through because of an appeal made by the Supreme Court of Justice.”

A new trial was never held as Mitchell’s whereabouts were unknown, the PGR explained, becoming contumacious from 21 January 1998.

More than a decade later, in December 2008, the decision was made to issue a European capture warrant, which was issued on 6 March this year.

what is clearly a move to decongest Portugal’s courts and speed up the country’s justice system, the Attorney-General Pinto Monteiro is calling for drunk drivers to be punished for their transgressions by settling out of court.

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The procedure prosecutors are being encouraged to follow is explained in a 19-page document circulated by the Attorney-General, but it has already been met with stiff opposition.

Reacting to the announcement the chairman of the Portuguese Automobile Club (ACP) this week said he was against the fact that only punitive measures such as community service, a fine in the shape of a donation or a rehabilitation course are included in this circular while there is no mention of the loss of a driver’s licence.

Carlos Barbosa argues that only courts can take a driver’s licence away and as such, the move does not serve as a deterrent for people to drink and drive.

He added that it “is merely an administrative measure and its purpose is solely to alleviate congested courtrooms.”

Instead, the ACP chief has called for stronger penalties and not what could be perceived as lighter ones, especially as more than 60 people are detected each day on Portuguese roads with alcohol levels above the legally-accepted limit.

Latest available figures show that traffic law enforcement authorities recorded 23,274 cases of driving under the influence in 2011, an increase of 5.5 percent on the previous year.

Driving under the influence of alcohol or an illegal substance is the fifth most common crime registered by Portugal’s police forces.

But the chairman of the Portuguese law society, António Marinho Pinto has come out in support of the move, saying it should have been brought into practice “a long time ago” and should be extended to cover other “minor offences.”

It is believed a handful of courts in Portugal are already following this procedure, such as those in Montijo and Angra do Heroísmo.

In the meantime, the Attorney-General’s office has since clarified that out-of-court settlements will also involve an agreement signed by offending drivers not to take to the wheel of their cars for a pre-defined period.

Transgressors of this bona fide commitment will end up having their day in court.

In the document, the Attorney-General tells prosecutors to take into account a series of factors and criteria when ‘negotiating’ with offenders.

The value of the alcohol reading, the driver’s age, profession, type of vehicle driven, the cause of driving under the influence, previous driving record and the risks posed to the safety of fellow motorists are all listed by Pinto Monteiro for prosecutors to consider before deciding on which course of legal action should be taken.

However, drivers detected with high levels of alcohol, should not be allowed to escape the wrath of the country’s courts, and will not be entitled to resolution of their case without facing a judge.

In addition, a road traffic collision involving a driver who is found to be under the influence, irrespective of the level of intoxication and damage caused will also result in a court date being set.

Two men suspected of being involved in the killing of a 28-year-old man in the Algarve in 1998 have recently confessed their association in the crime but indicated a third person as the trigger-puller.

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The three suspects, aged 40 to 47, started their trial last week at Faro’s courthouse after the case was reopened last summer, but chose to remain in silence throughout.

The case dates back to 2 February 1998 when a man was shot twice in the head on his way home from work, in Faro. After he was killed he was abandoned near the Spanish border.

PJ chief inspector João Garcia, who gave witness statements in court last week, said that two of the suspects, identified as Carlos Castanheira and Fernando Louro had already confessed their involvement in the crime during separate reconstructions of the shooting that were carried out last year.

According to the inspector, the case was reopened after one of his colleagues had a chance conversation with a friend who turned out to be one of the suspects’ ex-girlfriends.

Through phone tapping the police managed to identify Louro, who until then had been unknown to the investigation, but whose genetic profile matched traces left on a cigarette end found in the victim’s car.

According to the witness inspector, who has been investigating the case for 14 years, Castanheira (who is childhood friends with the third suspect, Carlos Lopa) and Louro intercepted the victim, Jorge Nascimento, on his way home from work between Loulé and Faro after simulating a car crash to force him to leave the vehicle.

From there the pair drove Nascimento in his car to São Brás de Alportel, where he was allegedly murdered and his body taken to a deserted spot near the Spanish border, where it was abandoned.

Castenheira and Louro claim that the third suspect, Lopa, was waiting for them in São Brás and it was he who shot and murdered the victim.

During that period the two claim they returned to Faro where they withdrew money with Jorge Nascimento’s bank card, near his home close to the Hospital roundabout.

The victim’s car was later found in Spain, 100 kilometres from the border, and more money was withdrawn in that country with the victim’s card.

Following the reconstructions of the murder Inspector Garcia said that, to him, it was “perfectly clear” that “everything resulted from intentions projected by Carlos Lopa, a former boyfriend of the victim’s then girlfriend.

At the time of the murder everything pointed to theft being the motive for the killing. Fourteen years ago the authorities suspected the assailants were drug addicts who lived near the victim.

Two men were caught on CCTV withdrawing cash from an ATM machine in Spain but the images were not clear enough to make an identification.

The trial continues with hearings on 13 and 27 April.

FIVE Britons were among 14 people arrested in a massive drug swoop

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FIVE Britons were among 14 people arrested in a massive drug swoop in Alicante, Spain’s National Police said.

They are a Glasgow man and woman, two men from Northamptonshire and Middlesbrough and a Dutch born British woman.

A Belgian national and a Spanish man were also arrested believed to head up the alleged drug smuggling operation and acted as a go-between with the Scottish arm of the business.

The detainee’s bank accounts have been frozen and are thought to contain in the region of €600,000.

They were arrested as part of a 14-month joint operation between Spanish and Scottish police forces that focused on high-value drug movements in the Alicante area.

The drug smuggling ring allegedly transported cocaine and hashish in cars and vans from Alicante to Scotland via the English Channel.

Drug sale profits were laundered in real estate investments in the holiday destinations of the Costa Blanca, according to police reports.

Investigations began late 2010 in the Levante area where members of the Scottish-based wing of the operation reportedly settled.

"We can confirm the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency is working with Spanish law enforcement as part of an ongoing investigation,” said Detective Superintendent Jim Reid of the SCDEA, as reported in theHerald Scotland.

In the first wave of arrests two British citizens and a Spanish man were arrested, while €2,500 cash and three vehicles, one of which hid 108kg of hashish, were among the items seized.

Then a van with 3.1kg of high-purity cocaine was found hidden in the fuel tank of a truck destined for a cross-channel crossing with several cars used to shuttle the drugs between various locations on the route between Spain and Scotland.

Five people were detained and the drugs, the van and four other cars seized.

The six expatriates were the latest to be arrested after 250 marijuana plants were found in purpose-built greenhouses in the garage and basement of one of four raided properties.

Spain seems to be holding onto it's unofficial title of the Costa del Crime

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Spain seems to be holding onto it's unofficial title of the Costa del Crime, but Amsterdam is still creeping up on it.

The tracking down of Merseyside gangster Kirk Bradley is the 49th arrest in the search for 65 Most Wanted fugitives who've featured in the regular Crimestoppers campaigns.

That's a pretty good hit rate, with Sky News viewers and Sun readers contributing the info that lead to some of those captures.

A league table of the 49 arrests shows that 28 were caught in Spain, nine in Amsterdam, seven in the UK and Ireland, two in the Canary Islands and one each in the Balearics, Crete and Belgium.

Arno Julsing, chief of detectives for the Amsterdam police, said: "Our approach works and we have found that the number of fugitives hiding in Amsterdam is decreasing. Our message 'Amsterdam is not the place to be' has apparently been heard. "

I'm not sure he's right. I think that, its lack of sunshine apart, Amsterdam will continue to be an attractive hiding place for some very obvious reasons.

TWO men arrested in a Spanish drugs bust

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One of the men is Charles “Chagga” McCormack, 29, who is a known enforcer for the infamous Lyons mob.

In 2010 he was charged and later cleared over an attack on James Hanlon, who was assaulted with a power drill.

Sources claim the shipment of cocaine and cannabis seized by cops on the Costa Blanca was destined for the Lyons mob and their Glasgow underworld empire.

As we reported yesterday, a Spanish police operation led to the arrests of 14 people and seized 3.1kg of cocaine and 108kg of cannabis.

Hanlon was bludgeoned with a power drill when he was ambushed by a mob in Stepps, Lanarkshire, a week before twin Bryan was mutilated in a separate attack.

The brothers were pals of slain hood Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll.

McCormack later had his not guilty plea accepted over the attack on Hanlon.

Robert Kirkwood, 25, pleaded guilty to assault to severe injury.

Spanish police have yet to release full details on all 14 people arrested in their drugs operation, which was helped by the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency.

But at least one person apart from McCormack is also a known Lyons henchman, underworld sources say.

The man, who can’t be named for legal reasons, is said to be an established contact in England for the Lyons clan.

A source said: “This is a major Lyons operation and the bust will cost them millions.

“Chagga has long been an associate of the Lyons clan and he has been working for them in Spain since he left Glasgow six months ago.

“One of the English guys arrested has been moving stuff around for the family for years.”

Steven Lyons, 31, has been living in Spain since he was shot in the leg in a notorious triple shooting at his uncle’s MoT garage in 2006. He was not among those arrested.

Our insider said the drugs for the gang were sourced in Morocco before being taken to Spain by speedboat.

Some of the haul was to stay in Spain, while the rest was destined for the UK.

A man who sparked an international manhunt has been extradited from Spain to face charges over his alleged involvement in a suspected million pound drug trafficking operation.

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Jamie May was sought by Lancashire Police’s serious and organised crime unit (SOCU) – alongside local amateur footballer Lee Broadbent – after four kilos of cocaine were seized in the resort last year.

Now police have confirmed May, 32, of Foxdale Avenue, Layton, was arrested by Spanish police last week and flown back to the UK.

He faces allegations of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

Broadbent, also 32, of Mains Lane, Poulton, is still being sought and police are appealing for anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact them.

Det Insp Graham Gallagher, from SOCU, said: “The courts issued European arrest warrants for both May and Broadbent.

“It gives police in countries across Europe the powers to arrest them. The men’s descriptions have been circulated throughout Europe.

“When someone jumps on a plane they kid themselves into thinking they are safe.

“But the long arm of the law stretches very far, as this arrest shows.”

May has been remanded in custody and will appear again on April 24.

Police across Europe are still searching for Broadbent, who is thought to have travelled to Spain around October 7 last year.

It is understood the father-of-two travelled to Glasgow before flying to Belfast and then catching a plane to Malaga.

Det Insp Gallagher added: “Broadbent is still at large, we are still looking for him.

“We believe he is still in Spain and we are working closely with the authorities over there.”

Ten people from Blackpool and Manchester were charged with conspiracy to supply class A drugs following raids in January.

Another man has been charged with possession of cocaine with intent to supply.

The raids followed an investigation into an alleged drug trafficking operation which is thought to involve cocaine imported from South America.

One kilo of cocaine was seized by police in Blackpool on October 4 last year.

Nine days later, another kilo of the Class A drug was confiscated by police who stopped a car in the resort and hours later another two kilos were uncovered by officers who stopped a car at Blackpool Railway Station.

THE ‘cocaine chauffeur’ Francisco Trujillo has been remanded in custody in the ongoing ERE case.

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 the former driver of Junta employment chief Francisco Javier Guerrero admitted that he and his boss spent 25,000 euros a month of public money on cocaine and partying.

The money was part of the so-called 1.3billion euro ‘reptile fund’ which should have gone to aid ailing companies and create employment.

Instead the courts have heard how in around 900 cases the money went to friends or family members of Junta employees.

Trujillo has now been jailed without bail and faces charges including bribery, influence peddling and document fraud.

Marbella needs a homeless refuge

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IT is one of Europe’s glitziest holiday resorts, famous for its upmarket tourism and fine sandy beaches.

Yet, Marbella urgently needs a homeless hostal, local charities have insisted.

“We need a shelter urgently,” Jerenimo Jimenez from the Red Cross told the Olive Press.

“People are losing their jobs, and we are seeing more and more homeless people of all nationalities including Moroccan and Spanish on the streets – all sorts.”

He revealed that his branch had seen the numbers of families needing charitable handouts almost double in just one year.

In 2011, Marbella Red Cross provided 180 families with food parcels, while this year the figure will be nearer 300.

“I go out most nights with a car to give out food and the numbers of homeless are clearly rising,” he added.

While official town hall figures claim only 11 people are sleeping rough in the town, other charities such as Caritas insist the figure is at least 100.

The local IU party is now supporting calls for a shelter to be set up.

But local councillor Miguel Diaz insists that previous calls to the ruling PP mayor have fallen on deaf ears.

“We used to have a shelter in Marbella, but it closed in 2000,” he said. “We have requested a new one now, but the PP administration has rejected it.”

Town hall social welfare councillor Manuel Cardena defended the objection, insisting a shelter was not needed.

“We are looking for definitive solutions and not temporary ones which increase the risk of social exclusion,” he said.

Alicante man gets married twice in four days

 

National Police have arrested a man in Alicante who is accused of getting married to two different women in four days. He did it so they could obtain residency permission and allegedly was paid 3,000 € in the first case, according to a statement from the Alicante provincial police station. Four days later he got married with a woman from Venezuela, and the irregularity has only come to light now when both the women had to renew their papers. The case dates back to October 2006 when the 29 year old Spaniard married a woman of Albanian origin in the Madrid town of Perales de Tajuaña in a civil ceremony. He said that he just wanted the woman to obtain legal residency in Spain and allegedly accepted 3,000 €. Four days later he decided if he acted quickly the first marriage would not have appeared in the Civil Registry, and he could marry a female friend, this time in the town of Parla. Apparently no money changed hand in the second marriage with just the residency being the motive. When the women had to renew their papers the irregularity came to light and the Foreigners Provincial Brigade in Alicante and the High Court in Cataluña collaborated in an investigation and the bigamy was discovered. The man was arrested close to house in Alicante and the investigation remains open.