Ian Haggath died last Wednesday, a week after he was targeted by a gang of thieves as he walked back to his hotel.

The 50-year-old had been staying with a friend at the three-star Janelas do Mar Hotel, in the Portuguese city of Albufeira in The Algarve.
Reports in Portugal state that he was beaten and left lying unconscious before paramedics rushed him to a Faro hospital with serious head injuries.
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed he died on Wednesday, unable to overcome his terrible injuries.
The Sunday Sun understands that Mr Haggath’s body will be flown back to the UK this week.
It is believed he was set upon by four youths suspected of assaulting an Irish citizen in the same neighbourhood last month.

Reports suggest Mr Haggath had been walking back to his hotel from the dangerous Montechoro area of Albufeira when he was targeted by thieves in the early hours. He is thought to have suffered serious head injuries including broken cheek bones, a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain.
Passers-by called the local ambulance service, which gave initial treatment at the scene.
Mr Haggath, from the Dunston area of Gateshead, and a keen player for Dunston Bowls Club, was found motionless by three fellow holidaymakers, one of whom told police he had been subjected to abuse moments earlier by the four youths.
The victim, who has two brothers in Tyneside, was in a critical condition when he was admitted to hospital, later being transferred to an intermediate care unit.

British tourist has been killed in a suspected attack by a gang in the Portugese town of Faro.

Ian Haggath, 50, from the Dunston area of Gateshead, died on Wednesday.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was providing consular assistance and advised Britons to be aware of the possibility of attacks.

It said in a statement: "We are concerned about the possibility of violent attacks and take this matter very seriously."

"We have updated our travel advice to warn against the possibility of violent attacks and are in contact with the police and local authorities."

Gang of robbers arrested in Barcelona for posing as police to steal from tourists

The Mossos d’Esquadra have arrested a gang of 24 suspects from Romania who persuaded tourists to hand over their wallets and identity documents by posing as police officers. The Mossos said in a statement on Monday that they generally targeted tourists from the United States and Asia and are believed to have carried out at least 80 robberies in this way, obtaining proceeds of some 80,000 €.

The Catalan police force are seeking another 14 suspected members of the gang.

They used rented cars which appeared similar to those used by the Mossos and acted in groups of three or four people, with one of them playing the part of a tourist to strike up a conversation with bona fide visitors to the Catalan capital. Other gang members posing as police would then approach the group and ask each of them for their documentation. The true tourists usually followed suit when the false tourist obeyed the officers’ instructions.

EFE reports that some were even persuaded to hand over their credit cards and their PIN numbers when the fake officers said they needed them to verify the information.

It was only later that they found out they had been robbed.

 

British woman accused of causing fatal Alicante accident which killed two of her friends

British woman who jumped a red light on the main southern access to Alicante City on Monday night faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, after causing a fatal accident. The two passengers, two women from Britain aged 71 and 62, who were travelling in the rear of her rented car died when it was hit by a bus.

The 59 year old driver and her front seat passenger, aged 58, suffered serious injuries.

EFE reports that the accident happened on the Avenida de Elche shortly before 10.30pm when the car jumped a light while attempting to turn across the traffic and was hit in the rear by a number 27 bus. The bus driver and the only other occupant of the vehicle both escaped serious injury.

The accused appeared before a judge on Tuesday and was released with charges.

 

Half a ton of cannabis found stored in a country property in Coín

The Civil Guard released news this Wednesday that officers have recovered more than half a ton of cannabis from a countryside property in Coín which was used as a warehouse to store the drugs.

The house was under suspicion of being used by drug dealers and was under Civil Guard surveillance on May 11 when three people were seen driving away from the property. Officers moved to intercept, and saw them drop three blocks of cannabis onto the road as they attempted to escape.

The suspects were arrested shortly afterwards and 520 kilos of cannabis resin were recovered in a court-ordered search of the property. La Opinión de Málaga reports that officers also seized two GPS devices, a satellite telephone and supplies used to package the drugs for distribution.

 

Man arrested for savage triple murder in Asturias

42 year old miner from León, José Manuel Álvarez Fernández, killed three people when, armed with a machete, he went on the rampage in Degaña, Asturias, in the early hours of Monday. The three victims are the father, brother and current boyfriend of his ex partner.

He killed them as they sleeping in their beds, after using a mallet to batter down the front door of his ex girlfriend’s home.

His ex, who El País reports was elected as a Socialist councillor for Degaña in Sunday’s local elections, was injured in the attack, as was her mother, although neither of their lives are in danger. It’s understood that the suspect’s two children, aged 6 and 11, who lived with their mother, were not hurt in the attack and were unaware of what was happening in their home.

Their father was arrested in Villablino, León, some hours later.

 

250 kilos of hashish in Ceuta

Guardia Civil de Ceuta has involved more than 250 kilos of cannabis resin which were to be introduced into the peninsula through the port of Algeciras (Cádiz). During the operation, agents have arrested five people and four vehicles were involved.

The first performances took place in a French registration bus, which was found 66,600 grams of cannabis resin in the fuel tank and stopped MY, born in Morocco.

Later, the same units of the Guardia Civil came the recognition of a national registered vehicle in which they found 87,300 grams of the same drug in the double bottom of the trunk and rear seats. The only occupant was arrested and be JTB, native and resident of Barcelona.

Soon after, he made another record in a Belgian car where they found 82,800 kilos of psychotropic substance. Its occupants, the Belgians MR, and HEK were arrested.

The last intervention in the territory of another vehicle, resulted in 17,200 grams of hashish and stopping to BEM, born in Morocco.

 

MAN suspected of being one of Britain’s most notorious cocaine dealers has been arrested in Spain.

Jamie Dempsey, 33, changed his looks after his picture appeared on TV, but was caught near Marbella on Tuesday.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency suspect him of being involved with a £12.6million haul of cocaine, seized in 2009.

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Dempsey, named as one of Britain’s 10 most wanted men, was traced to a villa complex in a joint operation by Spain’s National Police and the paramilitary Civil Guard.

He is being held at a high-security prison near Madrid, awaiting extradition proceedings at the National Criminal Court.

If he agrees to return to Britain, a Soca escort will take him back within the next two weeks.

But if the Essex man decides to fight, the case could take months.

Costa del Sol-based Muldoon, 64, and his wife Kim were accused of leading an operation that conned £9million from hundreds of timeshare owners.

Costa del Sol-based Muldoon, 64, and his wife Kim were accused of leading an operation that conned £9million from hundreds of timeshare owners.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Kim Muldoon, believed to have headed to Turkey, and six other members of the gang after they missed a court hearing in Malaga, Spain, brought by 300 mainly British claimants.
Maidstone-born Toni Muldoon and nine other defendants were given suspended sentences of under two years on condition that they repaid £438,000 within two years. Six pleaded guilty to fraud, the rest agreed to charges of illicit association and received a one-year suspended prison term.
The scam was run from call centres in Fuengirola from 2001 to 2006. Britons seeking to offload overpriced timeshares were contacted by telesales staff from companies including Screenit and Platinum Properties and offered an enticing rate after being told a buyer was interested.
An upfront fee of about £1,200 was then demanded for the sale management, never to be seen again. Twenty-six other companies, all linked to Muldoon, presented a fresh front for the racket, allowing it to run unchecked. A follow-up scam by company Conectese, run by Scotsman Richard Bain, saw the timeshare victims offered “legal assistance” for £250 to get their money back.
Lawyer Antonio Flores, of Marbella firm Lawbird, who represented 160 British claimants, said: “The amount the claimants were defrauded is considered only a fraction of all those who were swindled. This was a multi- million-pound scam. Muldoon is just horrible. He’s a natural-born conman.”
Victim Victor Jacobs, 89, of Hauxton, Cambridgeshire, said he was conned by “crooks”. The former engineer and his wife Peggy, also 89, received a call in 2001 from a Muldoon-linked company offering to sell their timeshare.

Mr Jacobs was keen to sell, being fed up with high maintenance fees at Lanzarote Beach Club. “The caller, a young woman, said, ‘We’ve got a buyer lined up for you,’ ” he explained. “They gave me his name and told us we would have to pay in advance.” The couple sent the £926 fee but were not contacted again.
Thousands of victims are thought to have funded Muldoon’s lavish lifestyle which includes a mansion in Benalmadena. He wrote on social networking site Bebo: “I love the fact that my work is not work. It is my passion and as I feel I am also good at it that makes me a happy man.”
Muldoon has been linked to more than 50 companies based in the UK, Spain and offshore, part of a huge international racket investigated by Interpol. He is also understood to be wanted in the UK in connection with two scams which netted £6million, after 15,000 victims paid upfront fees to websites promising debt elimination and a string of escort work.

IRELAND REMAINS one of the “preferred destinations” in the EU for cigarette smuggling

IRELAND REMAINS one of the “preferred destinations” in the EU for cigarette smuggling because of its comparatively high taxes on tobacco, a new report into criminal activity in the union has found.

Europol, the agency that handles criminal intelligence within the union, published its EU Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2011 yesterday.

It covers a wide range of criminal activity, including the drugs trade, illegal immigration, human trafficking, fraud, counterfeiting, property and environmental crime and weapons trafficking.

Europol says the “outstanding” feature of its latest assessment is the increasing diversification of the organised crime threat.

While Ireland does not feature strongly in the report, it identifies five major geographical “criminal hubs” based on their proximity to markets, commercial and transport infrastructure, the prevalence of criminal groups and “opportunities for criminal migration”.

On cigarette smuggling, the report describes its economic impact on the EU as “significant”. It estimates the “substantial loss” to national and EU budgets at about €10 billion per year.

“Organised crime groups based in the EU are increasingly active in cigarette smuggling, seen as an attractive alternative to drug trafficking because of its lower penalties and large profits.”

Criminals attempt to move goods through the free trade zones of Dubai and Jebel Ali (UAE) and Port Said (Egypt), or through regions in which the EU law enforcement community has “weaker co-operation arrangements”.

These include Indonesia, the northern Philippines and areas of the Republic of Cyprus in which the government of Cyprus “does not exercise effective control”, the report says.

“Preferred destinations within the EU are countries with comparatively high taxes on tobacco, such as the Scandinavian countries, Germany, Spain, the UK and Ireland.”

The report also notes that large-scale domestic cultivation of herbal cannabis continues to increase in the EU and says a further expansion is expected.

It says what it describes as “Vietnamese groups” are prominent in the indoor cultivation of cannabis, particularly in Ireland, the UK, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and Poland.

“Traditionally hierarchical in structure, these have expanded to incorporate specialist roles for electricians, plumbers and the management of cultivation facilities . . .”

Europol also notes the “substantial” economic and social impact of VAT fraud. Annual losses by member states in some cases up to €3 billion, “imply this is a significant, multibillion euro illegal business”, it says.

Three men who tried to smuggle drugs into the country have been jailed for a total of 42 years following a UK Border Agency investigation.

The gang devised an elaborate plot involving a military airfield and coded text messages between smugglers on opposite sides of the English Channel.

Cocaine with an estimated street value of £3.5m was found on board a light aircraft which had flown from the French resort of Le Touquet when it touched down at Mona Airfield, Anglesey, in July 2009.

Officers from North Wales Police met the aircraft and carried out a search of the plane which revealed 14 kilos of the Class A drug.



UK Border Agency investigators later seized a mobile phone which carried coded text messages between the conspirators. It led to further examination of phone records, establishing the involvement of others in the plot.

Following a two-month trial at Liverpool Crown Court, the plane's owner David Watson was last month found guilty of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine.

Michael Cahillane, had previously admitted the same charge. A third man, Richard McArthur, had denied knowing the drugs were cocaine, but admitted a charge of smuggling cannabis.

The three men were sentenced at the same court. Watson received 20 years, Cahillane 16 years and McArthur six years.

Jim Jarvie, Deputy Director at the UK Border Agency's crime directorate, said: “This was clearly a significant smuggling operation, worth millions of pounds to the people involved. They clearly thought that arriving a small airfield would ensure they were able to by-pass law enforcement controls. This was not the case.

“The cocaine was destined for the north west of England. Together with the police, the UK Border Agency has made sure that these drugs have not reached the streets and the key players brought to account.”

man who was wanted in connection with alleged drugs crimes in the United States was arrested in Palma de Mallorca on Monday.

56 year old Carmelo A.C.M. from Argentina was wanted on a US international arrest warrant issued through Interpol for drug offences committed over a period of 20 months between 1987 and 1988. El Mundo newspaper reports that he is believed to be a member of a gang of drug smugglers which attempted to smuggle 1.3 tons of cocaine into the U.S.

The cargo was found hidden in cases of canned anchovies which had been shipped to port in Philadelphia on a ship from Mar del Plata, Argentina.

fitted tracking devices to Civil Guard vehicles and were also able to sabotage the coastal eletronic surveillance systemSome of the items seized by police

The National Police have made two more arrests in their investigations in Huelva into a network which helped drug smugglers to bypass controls on the coast of the province. Eight people were arrested last month, including two Civil Guard, and with these latest arrests police now say the network has been disbanded.

Detectives had been working on the case for the past seven months and discovered that the organisation had fitted tracking devices to 11 Civil Guard vehicles to control their movements. Another part of the service offered was to put the SIVE electronic surveillance system out of action in some areas, to allow the smugglers to approach the coast undetected.

The Interior Ministry said in a press release on Thursday that the two Civil Guard formed a key part of their operation, as did one of the latest two suspects taken into custody, a guard security for the Agencia Tributaria Tax Authority.

Almost two and a half tons of cannabis were seized in February during the course of the investigation.

 

 

THE Guardia Civil arrested four men of North African origin who landed with a powerboat off the coast of les Rotes Denia

THE Guardia Civil arrested four men of North African origin who landed with a powerboat off the coast of les Rotes Denia last Saturday. A local fisherman called the authorities that morning to advise them that he had spotted a boat about 14 miles offshore that appeared to be drifting.

With only thoughts of a rescue operation, the emergency services of the coastguard and Guardia Civil immediately went into action sending a helicopter and boat to save the drifting vessel.

However, the apparent hapless sailors in need of rescue fled from their would be rescuers, and landed their semi inflatable boat on the rocks of Les Rotes.

More Guardia Civil were present to arrest three men from the boat on grounds of disobeying instructions and failure to co-operate with the authorities. A fourth man escaped but was arrested later in the day.

The boat in question was not equipped with food, or any other provisions, and neither were any drugs found, but it is believed by the Guardia that this interception is linked with another more successful operation on Tuesday of last week, when a boat carrying 940 kilos of hashish was discovered off Santa Pola.

The two boats were of similar design, both being 12 metres long  and powered by a 250 HP outboard motor, giving them great speed.

The apparent modus operandi of such smugglers is to time their approaches to coincide with favourable tides and then throw the drugs into the sea at night knowing that they will float into land on the tide and be picked up by awaiting ‘gang’ members.

Probe into failed Ciudad Quesada bank robbery

GUARDIA CIVIL are investigatiing an attempted bank robbery in Ciudad Quesada, Rojales. In the early hours of last Saturday, the security alarms of all the banks in the town went off, one after another, puzzling the Local Police and the Guardia Civil. Just hours earlier, someone had set fire to a phone installation, presumably in the hope that this would make the police believe it led to an error with the alarms.

The heist was risky, as the bank is located amongst the local urbanizations, almost three kilometres from the Crevillente-Cartagena motorway, making the escape more complicated.

The robbers created a hole in the wall of a corridor to enter the bank, and then waited for the commotion to lead the police elsewhere.

However, this didn’t help them much, and it appears that the tools they were using weren’t very good, because they had to leave the safe with the money behind.

When the bank opened on Monday, they found the damage that was caused, but the safe was still in place.

The police don’t believe that this well-planned robbery was committed by the same gang who blew more than 100 safes at a bank in Elche just weeks ago, because they are more likely to have fled the area.

 

Guatemalan police on Tuesday arrested a 71-year-old suspected drug trafficker that the United States has sought for alleged ties to Mexico's powerful Sinaloa cartel.

Waldemar Lorenzana was apprehended while driving in the town of El Jicaro, 40 miles northeast of Guatemala City, local prosecutors said. Authorities accuse the Guatemalan of running a large cocaine smuggling operation for the Sinaloa Cartel, pushing drug shipments from Colombia to the United States.

The U.S. government has issued a $500,000 reward for information leading to Lorenzana's arrest and the U.S. Treasury Department has placed Lorenzana and his two sons, Eliu and Haroldo, on a list of Central American drug kingpins.

Lorenzana will be held by local law enforcement but he could face extradition to the United States on international drug trafficking charges. His sons are still at large and the U.S. Treasury Department has offered $200,000 each for information leading to their arrests.

Prosecutors said the FBI and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration assisted in Lorenzana's arrest.

 

Spain’s longest serving common prisoner turned 61 last Saturday and, on Monday, went ahead with his threat to start a hunger strike if he had not been released from prison by his birthday.

Miguel Montes Neiro first entered prison in October 1976 at the age of 26 for deserting from the Army and the only time he has been free since then was during one of his several escapes over the years.

The last of his 20 sentences, none of which Europa Press reports are for ‘blood crimes’ was this January when he was sentenced to another six months in prison for using a prison pass to attend his mother’s wake to escape from custody.

His application to combine his sentences was rejected by a court in Granada and is currently on appeal at the Supreme Court. As things stand now, he is not due for release until 2021, while his lawyer argues that he should have been released in 1994.

Europa Press reports that Miguel Montes Neiro’s lawyer has now asked the government for a pardon for humanitarian reasons, given his client’s precarious state of health. He is understood to have both hepatitis C and tuberculosis and there are concerns that the hunger strike he has now started at the prison in Huelva could prove fatal.

second Irishman to be arrested for the shooting of a 54 year old British man in his home.

The National Police has arrested a second Irishman, 45 year old R.M.M. in connection to the shooting of a 54 year old Briton in his Benalmádena home. Peter Christley was shot when he went to answer the door of his home in Calle Londres, Urbanisation Torremar Park, On January 27 2010.

The second man was arrested in Montevideo, Uruguay, on an international arrest warrant opened by Interpol. His arrest follows the arrest of a 53 year old Irishman, J.G.D. in Fuengirola last week.

The National Police think the investigation in the case is now practically closed, although they still have to establish which of the two arrested men actually pulled the trigger.

La Opinion de Málaga reports that the two arrested men face charges of attempted homicide and extortion. It seems that the two men gave the victim 200,000 € to launder, which the police think has its origin in drug trafficking.

The victim however is reported to have failed to have returned the money, claiming it had been stolen. He was given time to find it, but it seems the shooters patience finally ran out.

However the assassination attempt failed, with the British man admitted to the Clínico Hospital in Málaga with several gunshot wounds, to the hip and intestines, from which he has now made a recovery. Police refer to the victim of being ‘of police interest’ given the case.

Both the shooters are Irish and from Cork and were identified quickly thanks to a statement from the victim himself.

National Police have identified two men allegedly implicated in the shooting in Calle Londres, in Ubanisation Torremar Park

The investigation into a shooting suffered by a 54 year old British man, Peter Christley, who was shot when he went to answer the door of his home in Benalmádena last January, has, according to Diario Sur, given its first results.

National Police have identified two men allegedly implicated in the shooting in Calle Londres, in Ubanisation Torremar Park, and arrested an Irish man on Tuesday this week. The man, who has not been named in reports, was placed before the court on Wednesday, and accused of taking part in the shooting.

The second suspect remains at large, and is thought to have fled the area, and so an international arrest warrant has been issued, although he has not been named in press reports.
Investigations, based in the Torremolinos-Benalmádena police station, continue.

Christly was shot four times, twice in the abdomen, once in the behind and once in the leg, but after emergency surgery he has now recovered.

Man found not guilty of ill-treatment because his wife liked S&M practices

The Alicante Provincial Court has found a man not guilty of domestic violence and rape, considering that there is not enough evidence to condemn the accused because it has been established that the couple regularly engaged in sadomasochistic activities.

The court heard how the couple had engaged in erotic games in their villa in l’Alfàs del Pi since 1990, a fact which the magistrates said was determinant in finding the accused not guilty. The prosecutor had called for a 12 year prison sentence and 30,000 € fine.

The alleged victim turned to the Violence against Women Court in Benidorm in 2008 to denounced the ill-treatment suffered at the hands of her husband, claiming that he forced her to have sex.
She claimed the couple’s relationship had deteriorated after the birth of their second daughter ‘because her husband did not help with the housework’.

The Court in Alicante considered that there was no evidence in addition to the victim’s statement, and that this was ‘of special relevance’. They said that the sadism could imply bruises in the couple and behaviour of dominance by one and submission by other, in which fictitious situations of resistance would be created. ‘The refusal of the woman to have sex could be framed in such a fantasy’.

 

El Mundo reports on a new level of tension between the Guardia Civil and the Gibraltar Police following new clashes between boats of the two in the waters surrounding the rock.

Now the paper claims that a Guardia Civil has been injured by the attack of boats from the Gibraltar Police when the Guardia were chasing drug traffickers from Morocco. The paper says the step up in tension led to a situation which was ‘five minutes away from a clash of incalculable consequences’.

Guardia Civil sources have explained they had intercepted the traffickers when 3.7 kms from the Gibraltar coast, and that the traffickers had thrown bales of drugs overboard during the chase which started when 10.kms off Europa Point. After the traffickers had been held, seven boats from the Gibraltar customs, Royal Navy and Gibraltar Police arrived, and the Guardia claims tried to free the traffickers with the Gibraltar boats blocking the way for the Spanish vessels. They claim their ships suffered damage and one agent was injured in the arm, which needed medical attention when back on shore. They claim that insults and threats from the British ships were continuous.

Socialist deputy, Salvador de la Encina, has confirmed an ‘incident’, but declined to comment until the Guarda Civil presents its completed report.

The Gibraltar Chronicle reports that a police vessel suffered minor damage in the incident, claiming that both the Guardia Civil and the Gibraltar Police were chasing the drug traffickers into the bay, and it was during the chase that a police boat collided with one of the Spanish vessels. It says no one is believed to have been hurt in the incident which took place at 1pm on Sunday.

The Royal Gibraltar Police say a full statement will be made on Tuesday.

Man stabbed to death in Benidorm street

25 year old man has died after being stabbed in the abdomen in Benidorm. It happened at 4,45am on Thursday, in Calle Tomas Ortuño, one of the main streets in the town.

Sources at the CICU Emergency Coordination and Information Centre told EFE news agency of the death, saying health crews could do nothing to save the man at the scene.

The National Police say the victim was Spanish, from Pedreguer in Alicante. Their investigations continue.

 

Spanish police have launched a crackdown on the drunken antics of British students at Saloufest.

Armed officers have started enforcing laws banning drinking in the street or roaming half-naked around the seaside resort.

Two students wearing togas were hauled to a police station and fined £265 pounds last night for flouting the no drinking law.


Crackdown: Police officers in Spain have started fining British students for drinking in the street during the notorious Saloufest

Police were also ordering students back to their hotels to put on t-shirts after hundreds of youths went out shirtless.

Officers had previously turned a blind eye to the breaking of the local bylaws  - but decided to act after the students' antics hit the headlines.

On Sunday 60 coaches carrying 3,000 18-to-23-year-olds arrived in Salou on the Costa Dorada for the second leg of Saloufest.

They replaced a group of 5,000 who went home last Thursday.

Hours after arriving, the new group hit the town in fancy dress, roaming from bar to bar drinking cheap shots and beer.

The two students dressed in togas were held at midnight outside Burger King after local cops spotted them drinking in the street.

They were driven to a police station after rowing with the cops who ordered them to throw the alcohol away.


Party time: Two students dressed as Indians enjoy a drink in one of Salou's bars

A police source said: 'If they hadn't been stupid enough to argue they would probably have got away with it.

'As it is they've been fined more than the cost of their holiday.'

An hour later, at 1am, a youth with a Leeds Metropolitan University t-shirt on dropped his trousers and exposed his privates to passing motorists.

By 3am the last of the students were stumbling drunkenly back to their hotels.

Last week newspaper El Mundo described the youngsters' antics as 'a whirlwind that would would shame any parent'.

Some locals have accused them of behaving 'like animals'.

But many businesses, struggling in the grip of recession, have welcomed the students with open arms.

They are expected to spend around £7 million over the course of the two legs of the festival.

Montse Badia, 45, who runs a food and drinks store, said: 'They come in every day and stock up on food, water and beer, and they're really keeping my business going at the moment.

'I think the people who complain have forgotten what it's like to be young and enjoy yourself.'

Maria Gomez, 22, who works in the Express Italia pizzeria, said: 'They get drunk and sing and shout, but as far as I'm concerned they're just having a good time.

'They never cause any trouble.'

Eduardo Abenojar, 43, who owns the bars Underground and Bus Stop, said: 'They're good kids just out to have some fun. I love having them in my bars.'

And a spokeswoman for Salou Town Hall, in charge of local police, said: 'Overall the students have been very well behaved with no incidents of note.

'They will be welcome back next year.'

Organisers ilovetour.co.uk say the tour is primarily about the 22 sporting events the students take part in during the trip.

They describe it as the 'biggest and best sports festival for British and Irish students'.

A cage-fighter who was jailed for his part in the £53m Securitas robbery is to have his assets in Morocco seized by police.

Kent Police said anything confiscated from Lee Murray would go to insurers.

The 31-year-old, originally from south London, is serving a 25-year sentence for his part in the Tonbridge depot raid, Britain's biggest cash robbery.

Murray, a Moroccan national, is behind bars in the north African country, were he fled after the raid in 2006.

A spokesman for Kent Police said: "There are ongoing proceedings by Kent Police in seizing and confiscating assets from Lee Murray in Morocco."

Last November Murray, who was jailed in June 2010, lost an appeal against his original 10-year sentence during a hearing in Rabat.

Instead his term increased to 25 years after prosecutors argued his sentence was too lenient.


The Securitas gang kidnapped depot manager Colin Dixon, his wife Lynn and their young child and held them hostage while they robbed the depot.

Heavily-armed robbers trussed up 14 terrified employees with cable ties and threatened to kill them if they disobeyed orders.

Five men were convicted of kidnap, robbery and firearms charges in 2008.

Murray's best friend and fellow cage-fighter, Paul Allen, from Chatham, in Kent, was jailed for 18 years in October 2009.

During the trial of the other gang members Murray was described as the man who organised the raid.

luxurious lives of Maxine Valentine and feared crime boss Dennis Slade.

 luxurious lives of Maxine Valentine and feared crime boss Dennis Slade.

The couple bought a £73,000 car owned by the pop star Jamiroquai, holidayed in star hotels, flew to Cannes for shopping trips, privately educate their five children and lived in a £1m house in one of the most exclusive street in Leeds.

Valentine, of Sandmoor Drive, Alwoodley, was jailed after admitting to a charge relating to acquiring, using or having possession of criminal property between April 2005 and March 2008.

Her husband is already serving a life sentence for robbery and conspiracy to murder following a major West Yorkshire Police operation.

Paul Greaney, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court how the pair were married in the 1998 and lived with their five children in the Spanish resort of Puerto Banus between 2001 and 2005 before returning to West Yorkshire.

They rented a £2,200 a month house on Norfolk Road, Harrogate, before moving to the lavish home on Sandmoor Drive.

Mr Greaney said the ownership of the property was disguised in the name of one of Slade’s associates but “in truth it belonged to Dennis Slade himself”.

The couple spent £110,000 over a three year period on sending their five children to a well known fee paying independent school in North Yorkshire.

The barrister said the couple owned a Bentley Continental which had originally belonged to pop star Jamirouquai.

The vehicle was first seen parked on the couple’s drive on Valentine’s birthday on April 27, 2007.

It had the registration plate 30MV.

Mr Greaney said it was obvious that Slade had bought it for his wife’s birthday.

The couple also had use of a Porsche Cayenne Turbo, worth £53, 000.

Lavish spending over a three year period included spending £16,000 in 2006 on trips to Dubai where Valentine boasted on Facebook that she had use of a butler.

Valentine and her children also visited Portugal, Paris, Spain and Ibiza as well as a family trip to St Tropez where they had use of a villa and a yatch.

During 2007 £15,000 was spent of trips to Geneva, Spain, Florida and a stay at Claridges.

Luxury goods found at their home included a mobile phone worth £2,350. Valentine also had Christian Doir and Chanel store cards which were used regularly including spending 2,000 Euros in a handbag

Exile for Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi on the Costa del Sol

is a legal option because he has not been charged with crimes against humanity, Spain's foreign minister said in an interview published Tuesday.
A London conference of world powers to map out Libya's future Tuesday could discuss the possibility of offering Kadhafi a safe corridor out of the country, according to British press reports.
"It is true that there is no formal accusation or search-and-arrest warrant against Kadhafi," Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez told Spain's leading daily, El Pais.
"Therefore, legally, at the moment it would still be feasible,"
she said when asked about the possibility of exile.
The International Criminal Court said this month that Kadhafi, three of his sons and other aides were being probed for crimes against humanity arising from the crackdown on Libya's popular revolt.
Last week the court's chief prosecutor said he would seek arrest warrants over crimes against humanity in Libya in the next few weeks.
ICC prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo said his team was probing seven cases in which security forces allegedly shot unarmed civilians in the first 12 days of the uprising.
Spain's foreign minister said the overthrow of Kadhafi had not been expressly authorized in a UN resolution allowing the use of military force to protect civilians in Libya.
"But it can be deduced when it (the resolution) affirms that the solution to the crisis must respond to the legitimate demands of the Libyan people," Jimenez added.
She said she agreed with US President Barack Obama that toppling Kadhafi was not a military goal but a political goal.
"All countries should join in this process but the leading role should be taken by the Libyans themselves," Jimenez said.
The main aim at the London conference is ending the violence, the minister said.
"The priority remains an immediate ceasefire," she said.
"A ceasefire would re-open room for diplomacy, for mediation which in my view should be led by Arab countries."
Asked about the possibility of Libya being split in two, Jimenez said maintaining the territorial integrity of Libya was a key goal of the international community.
Spain sent a total of four F-18 fighter jets and a refueling aircraft to help enforce a UN-mandated no-fly zone over Libya in an operation now being led by NATO.
It has also deployed an F-100 frigate, an S-74 submarine and a CN-235 maritime surveillance plane to help enforce an arms embargo on Libya. Around 500 Spanish troops will eventually be involved in the operation.

Thomas Swannell, aged 44, of Wellingborough Road, Northampton, was arrested in the early hours of Saturday morning by police on the Balearic island following the alleged attack in a bar in Magaluf.

Swannell, a scaffolding firm boss, was arrested on suspicion of stabbing Gary Vigors, aged 41, from Essex, in the neck with a bottle. He was on an annual cricket tour with Finedon Dolben Cricket Club.

He was due to appear in court in Majorca yesterday.

Eyewitnesses have spoken about how they found Mr Vigors, a father-of-one, lying on the side of the road following an incident at the popular Cafe Plaza bar, at around 2.20am.

Bar staff tried to resuscitate him for several minutes before an ambulance arrived and took him to hospital. He was later pronounced dead by paramedics.

It has also emerged the two men did not know each other and were with different groups in Majorca.

Finedon Dolben Cricket Club officials have confirmed Swannell has been part of the club “for a little while” and had taken on the responsibility as one of the club’s sponsors this year.

Stewart Miller, club chairman, said: “Thomas Swannell has been part of the club for a little while, then as a result he offered to sponsor a few things for us this year. We have many, many sponsors who sponsor anything from a cricket ball to a shirt.”

Mr Miller said that most of the club members of the tour returned as planned yesterday afternoon.

He added: “We are absolutely devastated and I’m sure that everyone would have been glad to get back to their families. It was very much a family touch with everyone from pensioners to young players, it wasn’t a bunch of lads on their own. The bulk of the people travelling are from Finedon and I would imagine it has been horrendous for all of them.”

A spokesman at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office last night confirmed they were aware a British man had been arrested following the incident in Majorca. The Chron attempted to speak to family members at Mr Swannell’s £500,000 home yesterday but they declined.

100-year-old Paloma Jover Gonzalez donated what is expected to be millions of euros, on one condition: The town hall of Lanjaron can only use the money ‘for the good of others’.

Generous 100-year-old Paloma Jover Gonzalez donated what is expected to be millions of euros, on one condition: The town hall of Lanjaron can only use the money ‘for the good of others’.


Her fortune, which was made from property along the Costa del Sol as well as her inheritance, must be carefully monitored.
The town hall, which is doing a full inventory of her assets, has confirmed it will initially spend money on a new day care centre.
Jover Gonzalez, who had lived in the Alpujarras town for decades, was very well connected with even King Alfonso XIII acting as best man at her wedding in the Vatican.
The daughter of a Spanish ambassador, she was born in Cuba and married newspaper magnate Pedro Rivero.
The couple had a son who died very young and she leaves no relatives.

British tourist has been killed in the Spanish holiday resort of Magaluf in Majorca.

British tourist has been killed in the Spanish holiday resort of Magaluf in Majorca.

Reports from Spain say that Gary Vigors was fatally injured during a disturbance outside a bar.

A Foreign Office official confirmed the death and said that consular staff were in contact with the next of kin.

The Spanish authorities are investigating. A man believed to be from Northamptonshire has been arrested in connection with the death.

SUSPECTED burglar Jonathon Lejman has been arrested after being found living on a beach in Tenerife.

The 29-year-old, from Stoke-on-Trent, was captured yesterday afternoon. He is wanted in connection with a burglary when he allegedly slashed his victim's face.

Lejman, also known as Lehman,  had been placed on a list of the top 10 criminals police believed were hiding out on the Costa Del Sol in mainland Spain.

Crimestoppers and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) issued descriptions of the 10 individuals on the list in February.


After yesterday's arrest, Lejman will face charges relating to an aggravated burglary in Henry Street, Tunstall, in the early hours of December 28, 2008.

Lejman, who previously lived in Tunstall, is accused of kicking the front door off its hinges with accomplice Lee Staples and making their way to the upstairs bedroom, where they threatened a man and his female partner.

Lejman is alleged to have slashed a kitchen knife across the man's face, leaving him with a 6cm cut from his ear to his mouth. The man also suffered a broken cheekbone.

Father-of-two Staples was jailed for five years in 2009 for his part in the attack, but Lejman, who has many tattoos including a pit bull's head and the words "only the strong survive", went on the run after failing to answer his bail.

SOCA and the Spanish police authorities were involved in the operation to track Lejman, codenamed Operation Captura.

Once in custody, the suspects appear in a Spanish court before being returned to the UK under European Arrest Warrants.

The operation, launched in October 2006, has led to the arrest of 43 suspects from a target list of 60.

Dave Cording, Crimestoppers' director of operations, said: "Not only is the campaign successful in tracking people down in Spain, but it displaces them as well, but as we can see, no matter where these wanted individuals run to, law enforcement will find them.

"I hope this further reinforces to fugitives, that you can run, but can't hide forever."

Ken Gallagher, head of European operations for SOCA, said: "Operation Captura is helping make the ex-pat community in Spain an uncomfortable place for fugitives

Three British suspects, aged 28, 29 and 34, have been arrested in Benidorm after a package containing three kilos of the designer drug mephedrone was intercepted

Three British suspects, aged 28, 29 and 34, have been arrested in Benidorm after a package containing three kilos of the designer drug mephedrone was intercepted at Valencia Airport.

The Alicante National Police said in a press release on Monday that the package was sent from India to a post box at a courier company in Benidorm.

The delivery was allowed was allowed to go ahead, and the first two suspects were arrested when they arrived to collect the parcel of drugs.

The third, who was the addressee on the package, was arrested at his home in Benidorm. EFE reports that he was using false identity papers as he was wanted for another crime against public health.

mystery Brit was shot by a gunman on a scooter

mystery Brit was shot by a gunman on a scooter – but fled before an ambulance arrived to treat him.

Horrified holidaymakers enjoying the sunshine in millionaires’ playground Marbella witnessed the shooting – which is suspected to be gang-related.

The lone gunman fired two shots, hitting the man, described as middle-aged and British, in the leg.

But before paramedics arrived, a man picked up the victim in a 4X4 and sped off.

Local police said: “We’ve checked all the hospitals but have found no trace of the injured man. The incident bore all the hallmarks of a settling of scores between criminals.”

cybersex chat girl

Maricel is a shy, attractive girl, who looks younger than her 15 years. But in her short life, she has already had to deal with experiences that would badly scar many adults.

Two years ago her aunt told her about a job in the city of Olongapo, several hours away from her home.

"She told me I would be working as a domestic helper and a babysitter," said Maricel. "But when I got there, she told me to dress up and go in front of the computer.

"She even showed me how to do it - so I had no choice but to follow her instructions."

Maricel had become what is known here as a "cybersex chat girl".

Her friend Kim was soon lured into the same trap, and worked alongside her.

"We did a show in front of the camera, using a webcam and a phone," said Kim.

"When the customers requested us to show our bodies, we removed our clothes… If they were satisfied with our show, they requested us for another show."

Cybersex den raid
Cybersex, or sexually explicit chat over the internet, is a growing industry in many parts of the world - and one of the countries where business is booming is the Philippines.

An already established sex trade, high levels of poverty and a population that speaks at least basic English means there is a ready supply of girls.

Neither the police nor the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) have accurate statistics, but they estimate that thousands could be working in the back rooms and small apartments that are the usual locations of these so-called cybersex dens.


Lesley Ermata found six girls in various states of undress when she raided this cybersex den
All internet sex is classed as pornography and therefore illegal in the Philippines, but what most concerns the authorities is the number of girls who are trafficked into these dens - many of whom, like Maricel and Kim, are well under 18, the legal age of consent.

The plight of these girls is a major concern for Lesley Ermata, a police officer specialising in women's issues. She is based in Angeles City which, like Olongapo, has a thriving sex tourism industry.

"It's one of the main problems we face here," she told me, as we got into the car on the way to a small one-storey house about 10 minutes from the police station.

Last year, she raided this building with a group of colleagues, and found six girls in various states of undress. The youngest was just 13.

From the outside, there is nothing to suggest this house is any different from all the others around it. It is on a busy suburban street, with a shop on the corner - many people pass by every day.

The landlady of the building, who also lives next door, denied she had any idea that it was being used as a cybersex den. In fact she said she had never even met any of the six girls who were working there.

Whether neighbours genuinely do not know what is going on, or whether they choose to remain silent, is a matter of debate. But either way, the fact that these cybersex dens are so hidden away makes it very difficult for the police to find them.

Ms Ermata says her team is almost entirely reliant on informants - the rare girls who have escaped and are brave enough to speak out, and also have enough evidence for the police to obtain a search warrant.

"We were able to raid this house because we had an informant who'd just escaped. She had a cellphone - she had videoed the other chat girls when they were online so she had evidence."

'Go to hell'
But even when the police are able to raid a cybersex den, there is no guarantee they will be able to find the owners.

"As of now, we don't have the capability to trace where the operations are being conducted," said Migdonio Congzon, the head of the computer crimes unit at the NBI.


Migdonio Congzon says it is difficult to trace where the operations are being conducted from
"They already use proxy servers; their websites are [often] hosted by a system outside the Philippines."

And he added that even if he did manage to track down the cybersex bosses, he faced another uphill battle in trying to convict them.

"The laws are really behind. There have been cases filed before the prosecutors' office, but the case goes to the prosecutors before it goes to court and as far as I know all those cases are still with the prosecutors' office."

In other words, he is yet to hear of a single conviction.

Perhaps the biggest problem Mr Congzon faces is that many members of public simply do not realise this is a serious issue - often involving under-age, trafficked girls.

Cybersex operations here have even likened themselves to call centres, saying they are part of the outsourcing industry - a sector which is booming in the Philippines.

The call centre industry is distancing itself as far as possible from these claims.

For Kim and Maricel, working in this industry was an experience from which they will need time and space to recover.

They have now left the cybersex business. Their den was raided late last year, and they are in the care of a charity in Olongapo called Preda, which is run by an Irish priest.

But the memories of the men who paid them to perform in front of a camera are still fresh in their minds.

"I felt embarrassed every time I saw them in front of a computer - I hated them because I felt that I was a child, so why were they doing this to me," said Maricel.

Kim was more concise. "I hate them - I want them to die and go to hell".

The names of the girls have been changed for their own protection

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The Only Way Is Marbella

The Only Way Is Marbella "Bosses of 'The Only Way Is Essex' are planning an exotic spin-off series in sunny Spain, which will document the lives of Brits in the exclusive resort of Marbella.

Bosses of 'The Only Way Is Essex' are planning an exotic spin-off in sunny Spain.

With the ITV2 reality show - starring perma-tanned Amy Childs, Mark Wright and Sam Faiers - hitting screens for a second series later in the month, producers think the swanky resort of Marbella would be the perfect playground for a swanky spin-off.

Filming for a pilot episode has already began in the wealthy Spanish hotspot, with scenes being shot on the beach, in exclusive nightclubs and even burlesque classes.

An insider explained: 'Producers think a show would work amazingly well in Marbella, which is a popular resort with British rich kids.

'The pilot has featured parts of Marbella and nearby Puerto Banus. With an abundance of nightclubs, yachts and millionaires, a fly-on-the wall series there could go down a treat.'

While it is not yet known whether a full series in the resort will be commissioned, 'The Only Way Is Marbella' is likely to feature the trials and tribulations of British tourists, ex-pats and Spanish locals.

The source added to The Sun newspaper: 'It's still early days as to whether a full series will go ahead. But judging from what's been filmed so far, this could be a great show.'"

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Brazil power cable accident during parade kills 17

 Brazil power cable accident during parade kills 17: "At least 17 people have died in a small Brazilian town after a live power cable broke and fell into a crowd of people enjoying a pre-Carnival street party.

It happened in the town of Bandeira do Sul in Minas Gerais state, north of Rio de Janeiro.

A crush of people were dancing near a truck playing loud music in the main square when the cable came loose and fell among the revellers, said reports.

Dozens of people were hurt, some seriously.

The town was plunged into darkness and telephone services were disrupted immediately after the accident."