Three men from Merseyside on the run in Spain

Three men from Merseyside are on a top ten most wanted list of suspected criminals on the run in Spain.Crimestoppers are asking for ex-pats' help to trace the men, who they believe have fled to the Costa del Sol.They include 40 year old Paul Walmsley, from Liverpool, who's suspected...

Woman who suffered years of abuse has called for her attacker to be brought to justice from his hide-out on Spain’s Costa del Crime.

Woman who suffered years of abuse has called for her attacker to be brought to justice from his hide-out on Spain’s Costa del Crime.Investigators want the public to help them trace 10 “most wanted” fugitives thought to be on the run in the Costa del Sol region, including Martin Smith, 44, of North Shields, who is wanted in connection with the rape of a child aged under 16 and gross indecency with a girl under the age of 16.The 44-year-old is accused...

Local council in the Costa del Sol resort of Marbella – an area traumatised by years of corruption involving politicians and residential developers

Local council in the Costa del Sol resort of Marbella – an area traumatised by years of corruption involving politicians and residential developers – is seeking to retrospectively "legalise" 18,000 homes, which are now found to have been built without appropriate construction licences. But three schemes, all close to the water, have not been included in this de facto amnesty and instead face demolition.They were built since the introduction of the...

love padlocks being placed on the Isabel II bridge which links the city centre to the area of Triana.

Sevilla is a pretty romantic place, but the City Hall says it no longer wants to see love padlocks being placed on the Isabel II bridge which links the city centre to the area of Triana.The idea of couples placing a padlock on a fence or bridge is thought to have started in the 80’s in Pécs, Hungary, and has proved very popular in Sevilla where many couples have placed their locks thinking that they would never be opened.But the City Hall considers...

Benalmádena bullfighter, Josélito Otega, says he’s not worried that many will think he is gay.

Benalmádena bullfighter, Josélito Otega, says he’s not worried that many will think he is gay. There’s little more macho in Spain than the world of the matador, but now that is set to change as Josélito Otega has accepted the sponsorship on his pink cape, of the new ‘Gay Up’ energy...

Religious beliefs cannot be above civil law

witness called before the National Court in Spain on Wednesday in a case where nine alleged Islamists were in the dock, facing allegations of sending Mujahidin to carry out suicide attacks in Iraq, has been expelled from the court by Judge Javier Gómez Bermúdez, after she refused to lift or remove her burka.Before expelling her from the chamber the judge explained that in Spanish courts it is obligatory to declare with the face uncovered, and at...

Javier Rodrigo de Santos, former town planning councillor, spent more than 50,000 € of public money

ex Partido Popular councillor found guilty of misuse of municipal funds in Palma de Mallorca has been sentenced to two years in prison, for using the City Hall credit card to pay for sex and cocaine.Javier Rodrigo de Santos, former town planning councillor, spent more than 50,000 € of public money between 2005 and 2007 and claimed at his trial that he only went to the alternative night clubs to buy the cocaine. In fact, his addiction to drugs formed...

Electrical storm in Els Poblets blew an enormous hole in the roof of the Swiss couple’s house

Swiss couple with a holiday home in Els Poblets were fortunately away in Switzerland for the summer when their house was hit by lightning. A German woman who looks after the property while the owners are away visited the house on Wednesday and told Diario Información that she is convinced they would have been dead if they had been inside when the house was hit.The electrical storm in Els Poblets blew an enormous hole in the roof of the Swiss couple’s...

Council meeting in Estepona has approved abolishing three local taxes under the austerity plan presented by opposition Partido Popular councillors

Council meeting in Estepona has approved abolishing three local taxes under the austerity plan presented by opposition Partido Popular councillors which, while good news for the pockets of the people of Estepona, will have a serious effect on the municipal purse.The local tax councillor, Francisca Bernal, told Europa Press that the move approved by the opposition, which has a majority in the local corporation, will reduce Town Hall income by around...

Armed robbers in Ronda

Police in Ronda are examining CCTV footage to identify the three armed robbers who got away with 300 euros after raiding a BP petrol station on the Campillos road some three kilometres away from Ronda. According to the 46 year old shop assistant who was working at the time, three armed individuals burst into the shop and demanded the contents of the till. They got away with only 300 euros as the petrol station’s policy is keep no more than that amount...

British director, Michael Radford, has started shooting in Córdoba for his film, ‘La Mula’

British director, Michael Radford, has started shooting in Córdoba for his film, ‘La Mula’ – ‘The Mule’, his movie on the last months of the Civil War. Adapted from the book of the same name by the author from Jaén, Juan Eslava Galán, it’s a true life story which tells the tale of a young soldier who comes across a mule in the middle of a battlefield.He decides to keep the animal so he can take it home with him at the end of the war and allow him...

Motion of censure will oust the Benidorms Partido Popular Mayor, Manuel Pérez Fenoll.

Partido Popular Mayor claims in an open letter to the people of Benidorm that the motion against him is based on liesThis Tuesday is expected to see the end of 16 years of Partido Popular government in Benidorm, when, saving any last minute surprises, a motion of censure will oust the town’s Partido Popular Mayor, Manuel Pérez Fenoll.It was presented by the 12 Socialist councillors at the Town Hall – who have since resigned from the party – and a...

Friend of the 16 year old Spanish girl, Celeste, found dead in her doorway in Valencia early on Saturday has been arrested

Friend of the 16 year old Spanish girl, Celeste, found dead in her doorway in Valencia early on Saturday has been arrested in connection with the teenager’s death. He is understood from the Levante newspaper to be one of the two friends who accompanied her home after attending a botellón street drinking party on Friday night and stayed talking with her in the doorway after the other youngster left at around 2.30 am on Saturday.There are unconfirmed...

Juan Carlos Benavides faces a possible payout of more than 30,000 Euro over comments he made about a Socialist councillor

The Convergencia Andaluza Mayor of Almuñécar, Juan Carlos Benavides, faces a posible payout of tens of thousands of euros in a slander case which will be heard by Criminal Court No. 1 in Motril in December.The case comes to court after legal action taken by the Socialist Party’s former spokesperson at the Town Hall, Rocío Palacios, over insulting comments the Mayor made about her during a council meeting on 31st January 2006. Benavides suggested...

Trial starts of two British men, named as Richard Henry Roberts, 35, and Anthony Griffths, 22,

Trial starts of two British men, named as Richard Henry Roberts, 35, and Anthony Griffths, 22,who are accused of killing another Briton, 26 year old Daniel Hastelow, and breaking into his home in Magaluf on Mallorca in January this year.The attack came at 4am on the morning after the victim’s birthday in an apartment in Calle Contra almirante Riviera in Magaluf, but an argument had started before that in a local pup. This allegedly led the attackers...

Jose Munoz, 55, head of the Malaga brotherhood of Gitanos, was shot twice inside his car by a fellow gypsy.

Jose Munoz, 55, head of the Malaga brotherhood of Gitanos, was shot twice inside his car by a fellow gypsy.The suspect, D.R.F, 18, from Almeria, was later arrested by police at a roadblock in Algodonales, Cadiz province, as he tried making his getaway in a taxi. Police now fear that the shooting may spark gypsy warfare and retribution crimes within the city.A police spokesman said: “He was immediately taken to Malaga police station and not to Ronda...

John David W.S. He faces a six-month sentence and a two-year ban from his profession

Partido Popular Mayor of Sorbas faces a possible six months in prison and a 7-year ban from public office for granting planning permission for a development in a protected area of the Sierra Cabrera. The building licence was granted in 2006 for 3 new homes on a plot in Los Pérez, which the prosecution service claims Mayor José Fernández was fully aware was classified as land unsuitable for development.Other suspects in the case are the municipal...

Family of murdered Seville teenager accuse suspects of desecrating the body

Parents of Marta del Castillo, the 17 year old who disappeared in Seville this January, were greeted with applause by the crowd waiting outside Instruction Court No. 4 in the city this Wednesday morning, as they arrived to hear the four accused in their daughter’s death formally informed of the charges against them.Inside the court, the private accusation brought by Marta’s parents added an additional charge against the four adult suspects in the...