Collapse of the pound Holiday makers will still pay around £85 more per €1,000 they spend this year, compared to April 2008

Collapse of the pound against the Dollar, and to a lesser extent the Euro, mean British holiday makers will find their break in the Med, or their Disneyland trip, much more expensive this year.Research from moneysupermarket.com reveals it will cost Brits nearly £300 more for every $1,500 spent in the States now, compared to this time last year.For European travellers the outlook isn't much better, despite the pound's recent rally against the Euro...

Action star Dolph Lundgren's wife was left traumatized after robbers tied her up in their home

Action star Dolph Lundgren's wife was left traumatized after robbers tied her up in their home. The masked burglars abandoned the robbery after discovering the house belonged to the "Rocky IV" star.Three armed thieves broke into his Costa del Sol villa and tied his wife Anette, who...

WARNING:Portuguese man-of-war seen close to the beaches of the Costa del Sol, in southern Spain, and off the coast of Murcia, in the south-east.

Portuguese man-of-war , with their lethal stings, made an unusual incursion into waters normally considered too warm for them.The jellyfish have been seen close to the beaches of the Costa del Sol, in southern Spain, and off the coast of Murcia, in the south-east.The Portuguese man-of-war,...

Arrested a taxi driver who is accused of raping a British tourist in the Marbella hotel

On Tuesday the woman, who is around 50 years old, had lunch in a restaurant in Marbella and then asked for a taxi to collect her and take her to her hotel.The taxi driver took the woman to her hotel and then apparently went with her up to her room. Sources close to the case say that the hotel receptionist saw the driver go up to the fourth floor and then come down some minutes later. It was during this period of time that the rape allegedly took...

Danish citizen who was wanted by Great Britain for alleged crimes of robbery, fraud and money laundering has been arrested in Fuengirola.

Danish citizen who was wanted by Great Britain for alleged crimes of robbery, fraud and money laundering has been arrested in Fuengirola. A European warrant had been issued by the British courts for the arrest of T.G.G.K. (30), who has allegedly done dozens of people out of more than three million pounds sterling (almost five million euros). The victims of the swindle had bought shares in different companies that were worth nothing. T.G.G.K. was...

Three dead bodies have been found on the 'Los Naranjos' property in less than a year.

The man arrested in connection with their deaths is the owner of the finca and testing for gunpowder residue is being carried out on the dead men’s hands to determine if either of them shot at the suspect now in custody. There are some reports that both were carrying pistols, and...

Hicham Mandari lying face down in a garage between Mijas and Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol with a bullet in his head

Spanish police first came upon the body of Hicham Mandari lying face down in a garage between Mijas and Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol with a bullet in his head, they thought him just one more victim of a revenge attack among gangsters, typical of the region. Or they said they did. But the death of the young Moroccan has involved the secret services of four countries and turned a spotlight upon the secretive, sometimes menacing world of the Moroccan...

Len and Helen Prior,Constitutional Court has ruled the proceedings which led to the demolition to be invalid

There was some good news last week for Len and Helen Prior, the British couple whose home in Vera was demolished as illegal in January last year: the Constitutional Court has ruled the proceedings which led to the demolition to be invalid. The court states that the Priors were not...

British Hell’s Angel arrested in Altea

Five of the 22 Hell’s Angels arrested across the country on Tuesday, had their headquarters in Altea. The three men and two women were released on police bail after questioning yesterday, despite a pistol ammunition and documents being taken from the home in Pla del Castell.The nationalities...

Civil Guard are working to identify a body

Civil Guard are working to identify a body which was found in El Ejído on Thursday in the area of Camino Cortés. The find was made at around 6am near local greenhouses.The body is reported to be that of a male, and he is reported to have been shot at least once. The dead man was not carrying any documentati...

Department for Work and Pensions has extended its successful benefit cheats hotline to the Costa del Sol

Department for Work and Pensions has extended its successful benefit cheats hotline to the Costa del Sol and Canary Islands following its launch in Alicante in September 2008.Residents in these popular ex-pat areas can report suspected British benefit thieves to a local number and...

Christopher Wiggins, 42, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cocaine from South America believed to be worth more than 650 million euro

Christopher Wiggins, 42, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cocaine from South America believed to be worth more than 650 million euro (£580 million). Wiggins, based in the Costa del Sol in Spain, pleaded guilty at a brief hearing in Cork Circuit Criminal Court. Wiggins,...

Wanted for alleged document forgery, fraud and identity theft.

Arrested a 64-year-old man from Potenza (Italy) who was living in Marbella. Wanted for alleged document forgery, fraud and identity the...

Police raids 60 prostitutes from Carambola, Canela, Manhatten and H2 roadside clubs

Eight club owners seized along with 60 prostitutes from the Carambola, Canela, Manhatten and H2 roadside clubs, all in El Ejido and Roquetas de Mar.largest network of traffickers of Russian women for means of sexual exploitation ever to have been investigated in Spain has brought the Spanish National Police to Almeria Province where the greatest number of arrests has been made.Operation ‘Zarpa’, which is in its third stage of development, has led...

‘Robin de los Bancos’, was arrested in Barcelona University

‘Robin de los Bancos’, was arrested in Barcelona University after reappearing yesterday saying the money he had obtained had gone to produce a new free newspaper which proposes his own ‘post-capitalist’ plan to overcome the crisis, and includes a guide on how not to pay your mortgage. He said he had spent the previous six months in exile outside Spain but had come back as ‘our future is at stake’. The police claimed last October that 18 banks had...

Amy Fitzpatrick grandmother spoke of her anguish at reports that a body found in Spain might be her beloved grandaughter

Amy Fitzpatrick grandmother of missing teenager Amy Fitzpatrick spoke of her anguish at reports that a body found in Spain might be her beloved grandaughter.Maura Donohoe (80) she suffered a "serious fright" when she saw a TV3 report about an unidentified body found near the town where the 15-year-old girl was last seen before she disappeared on January 1 last year."I got such a fright. I thought it could be Amy," said Maura, speaking at her home...

Death of thousands of chiringuito restaurants

"Chiringuitos have existed for centuries, far longer than we have had ministries," Norberto del Castillo, of Andalucia's association of beach businesses, said. Campaigners have denounced moves by the environment ministry to close down the thousands of chiringuito restaurants that...

The new ‘Costa del Crime’.Russel Ruble has just been returned to America by the FBI to stand trial for a theft of over $320,000 from his relatives.

In the last few months there has been much written about foreign fugitives who have sometimes lived here for many years without detection. We have had an Englishman John Darwin who faked his own death at sea in a canoe while his wife Anne collected thousands of pounds in life insurance and moved here.The only reason he got caught was because he was stupid enough to pose for a picture for a real estate company.In the last couple of weeks The Panama...

600 shortfall in the number of policemen and women placed across the Costas.

All the police stations in the province have a deficit of numbers which is now described in some places as ‘alarming’. Biggest shortages are seen in Estepona, Torremolinos, Vélez-Málaga and Antequera. Latest data shows the number of National Police in the province is at 81% capacity, 2,492 instead of the 3,067 required.Spokesman from the SUP police union in Málaga, Manuel Expósito, told the Diario Sur newspaper that apart from tourism the nature...

Juan Carmelo Santana found guilty of murdering a British couple on Fuerteventura has been sentenced to 39 years in prison

Juan Carmelo Santana found guilty of murdering a British couple on Fuerteventura has been sentenced to 39 years in prison for the killings. In a ruling released this Monday reported by the EFE news agency, 42 year old Juan Carmelo Santana has also been ordered to pay 30,000 € compensation...

37 year old man to be given 6 years , after being arrested in his vehicle transporting nearly 300 grams of cocaine.

37 year old man to be given 6 years , after being arrested in his vehicle transporting nearly 300 grams of cocaine.According to the indictment, which has had access Efe, they have been watching him since March 21st, 2007 when the police set up a device to monitor the vehicle of the defendant, after learning that he was planning to travel to Almería to acquire a “significant amount of drugs. ”After being observed during the outward journey to the...

family clan responsible for dozens of burglaries in Elche have been arrested

Eight members of a gang responsible for dozens of burglaries in Elche have been arrested in an operation by National Police.The Interior Ministry described them as a family clan and said in a press release that one was also wanted for attempted rape. Seven of the suspects are Spanish, while the eighth person in custody, a Moroccan man, was responsible for selling on the stolen items. More than 60 robberies are noted, many of them in outlying areas.The...

Bernard Madoff, the disgraced New York broker, sent 150 million dollars to a bank in Gib.

Bernard Madoff, the disgraced New York broker, sent 150 million dollars to a bank in Gibraltar. El Mundo reports that the transfer was made in the name of a company based in the Virgin Islands called Vizcaya Partners Ltd. a month before he was arrested.The lawyer given the job of liquidating Madoff’s assets, Irving Picard, is now trying to recover the money from the branch of the Swiss bank, Jabob Safra, on Gibralt...

Elche treasury councillor, Maria Angeles Aviles, could be facing charges of accountancy fraud

Elche treasury councillor, Maria Angeles Aviles, could be facing charges of accountancy fraud, along with the mayor, Alejandro Soler. Elche’s chief prosecutor, Ramon Siles, has announced that the decision to prosecute was taken after it was revealed that Aviles had signed five payments which were judged to be irregular and that Mayor Soler had signed two irregular payments, worth 5,620 euros.The monies in dispute were allegedly used to fund the Socialist...

Lee Ward, 28, was killed instantly in a car crash close to Marbella, on the Costa del Sol.

Lee Ward, 28, was killed instantly in a car crash close to Marbella, on the Costa del Sol. His grieving father, entrepreneur and executive Charles, 48, told of his devastation last night. Writing on a Facebook tribute page set up in his son’s memory, he said: “God, how I miss you....

Chiringuito at Bikini Beach to be demolished

Coastal Authority has fined a chiringuito beach restaurant in Estepona 240,000 €, but the local Town Hall is calling for the structure to be demolished. The council says that if the owner of the restaurant does not demolish it himself, they will do so.The chiringuito at Bikini Beach is considered to be guilty of increasing its plot size from 100 to 508 square metres.The regulations from the Coastal Authority, dependant on the Ministry for the Environment,...

Juan Carlos Juárez, the Mayor of La Línea, faces a possible 28 years in prison

Juan Carlos Juárez, the Mayor of La Línea, faces a possible 28 years in prison following the presentation on Monday of the private accusation in the Roseworld case.It relates to an allegedly illegal procedure in the sale of municipal land to the company Roseworld and its onward sale...

Resale property prices on the Costa del Sol have fallen by upto 20% in some areas, and Mijas down 18.6%, Manilva down 20.7%, Estepona down 17.5%.

Resale property prices on the Costa del Sol have fallen by upto 20% in some areas, and Mijas down 18.6%, Manilva down 20.7%, Estepona down 17.5%, and Torrox down 17%, are all in the list of the top 20 towns in Spain to see the largest reductions in price.Arteixo in A Coruña and San Pedro del Pinatar in Murcia are the places where house prices have fallen the most, by 23.4% and 22%.Marbella and Málaga remain among the most expensive places to purchase...

29 year old British man has died and two other people, possibly also British have been injured in a traffic accident in Benahavís near Marbella.

29 year old British man has died and two other people, possibly also British have been injured in a traffic accident in Benahavís near Marbella.The vehicle in which the three were travelling left the road, fell down a drop and burst into flames. One of the occupants was trapped inside and had to be rescued by the fire service.There are reports that one of the injured is 38 years old and one was taken to the Costa del Sol hospital in Marbella for...