Seven people who were being held hostage

Lepe a sleepy small provincial town close to the Portugese border more famous for its strawberrys than crime was stirred into the headlines when a group of seven people who were being held hostage in Lepe and Cartaya, Huelva province, were freed this weekend, in a Civil Guard operation which took the seven kidnappers into custody. EFE says two of the kidnappers lived in Cartaya, itself, three others from elsewhere in Huelva province, another in Madrid and the seventh in Holland. Two of them have Moroccan nationality.
Four of the hostages were found under guard in two vehicles parked near the Marina Ocio shopping centre in Lepe following a report to Lepe local police from the son of one of those who were being held. He said his parent was being held by kidnappers in the area after being missing from home for two days.
The kidnappers were nearby and were arrested as they tried to escape.
The remaining three hostages were found near a chalet in Cartaya, four kilometres outside Lepe, after managing to escape when the kidnappers left. All seven were previously held captive in the property.
There was no indication in the report if the kidnappers had made any demands for a ransom.

Amy Fitzpatrick, 15, used to take refuge in the neighbour's home

The police investigation into the disappearance of Amy Fitzpatrick in Mijas, Málaga, found a new lead Thursday when a neighbour testified that his car, which he often lent to the girl, had gone missing on 1 January.
The 35-year-old British man told the Civil Guard that he had not reported his car missing until now because he feared being arrested over two old traffic violations. But an interrogation has yielded "several contradictions," police sources said yesterday.
Amy Fitzpatrick, 15, used to take refuge in the neighbour's home when she had arguments with her family, her best friend Ashley Rubio told investigators. The man is friends with the missing girl's stepfather.
The girl disappeared on 1 January after visiting her friend Ashley, who lives close by in a gated community in this resort town on Costa del Sol.

The foreign property owner in Spain a species in danger of extinction

In Spain, a whopping 96% of mortgages are on floating rates, rather than fixes - so every rise hurts almost every mortgage holder.
It looks like the Spanish may be the first group of Europeans to experience a painful ending to the global property boom.
Last week, the Ibex index in Madrid was battered as shares in Valencia-based builder Astroc dived after its accounts revealed that some of last year's profits came from the sale of assets to its chairman, leading to fears that the company was trying to prop up its share price. Its fellow building stocks took a tumble as the fears spread to wider concerns about the property market in general. Spanish house prices have risen 270% in the past 10 years. But now house price growth is faltering, slowing from annual double-digit gains to growth of 7.2% in the first quarter of this year. In many areas, the Costa del Sol included, prices are falling.
And the truth is that the statistics on the Spanish property market make for frankly terrifying reading for anyone who is thinking of, or is already, investing there.
Massive oversupply
The supply and demand statistics are awful for a start. More than 800,000 homes were built last year - that's more than France, Germany and Italy combined. That's even though Spain has the lowest birth rate in the EU, along with Italy – women now have just 1.3 children on average.
That's all bad enough - but Spain's market is also unusually vulnerable to rising interest rates and panicky speculators. In a country of 40 million people, four million foreigners own property, including 250,000 British people.
One of the main reasons that property bulls - and sometimes more sober experts - often claim that house prices won't fall is because if you own a home, and prices are falling, you will tend to hold off selling unless you absolutely have to. So the supply of homes on the market dries up, keeping supply and demand broadly balanced, meaning prices remain roughly stable, until conditions pick up again.
No desire for many to hold
This is debatable on many levels - but even if you accept that argument, the problem for a market like Spain is that holiday home owners and fly-to-letters have neither the desire, nor in many cases, the financial reserves to sit on a property that is falling in value. And that's not even considering the number of ex-pats who emigrate, only to turn around and come back within the first few years of moving.
On top of that, many second home-owners are largely relying on money released by remortgaging their main residential property. So with interest rates rising, for example, in the UK, sustaining two homes is becoming more difficult for all those property moguls who have overstretched themselves to buy their place in the sun.
European handcuffs
In Spain, the situation with interest rates is even more grim. Because it's part of the eurozone, Spain can't set its own interest rates. And the reality is that eurozone rates are largely set with Germany in mind. The trouble is, Germany has been at pretty much the opposite end of the business cycle from the rest of the world (except maybe Japan) for about 10 years now. Rates were very low when Spain joined the euro, which fuelled the boom in the first place - as Bank of Spain governor Miguel Fernandez Ordonez says: "The single monetary policy has meant that excessively loose conditions for our economy have been almost continuous."

Small constructors and developers have closed down

Prices are falling in some areas, but because many properties are second or holiday homes, owners are reluctant to drop asking prices, unless they are anxious to sell. It was reported that many small constructors and developers have closed down in the past few months in the Valencia region, about 20% of the 13, 000 plus. Many of these small enterprises are in fact, front companies for the larger ones- they hire the illegal workers, enter into the shady deals, etc. and when things go wrong they simply fold their tents, declare bankruptcy and disappear. While the number of employees in major enterprises has recently shown a small increase, these numbers do not account for the thousands of contract , temporary or illegal workers who have been let go in recent months. To avoid paying for the August vacation or being forced to hire on a permanent basis, many thousands of construction workers were dropped at the beginning of the summer holiday period. There appears to be no way of knowing how many have been hired again, but the downturn in construction suggests that very few have work-and most have no social security net to fall back upon.

The price of second homes in the Mediterranean could fall

The price of second homes in the Mediterranean could fall as a result of the credit crisis, a leading property expert has warned.
Michael Ball, a professor of property at Reading ¬University, England, and an adviser to the UK government, said holiday homes in many parts of Europe were exposed to a correction.
Not only had prices risen fast amid speculative interest and the easy availability of credit, but the supply of new flats had been increasing at a prolific rate.
Prof Ball pinpointed the Mediterranean and central and eastern Europe as being particularly “vulnerable” to falling prices.
“There are a variety of reasons in that in both of those areas, credit has been used and people have been very optimistic about long term values,” he told an audience of property professionals on Thursday night.
“There has been a boom, the market has been driven by foreign investors and now that is beginning to turn.”
The professor cited, as an example, Estonia, where house prices had dropped by an estimated 10 per cent in the past 12 months. “That will probably trickle through to other countries,” he said.
Savills, the estate agency, says the value of British-owned homes overseas have risen from £7bn in 1994 to £52bn ($106bn, €75bn) today through new purchases and rising prices.
The most common motive of buyers is to make a profit – rather than to have somewhere to go on holiday – according to a survey by the company. This speculation might have made some markets even more precarious. Some buyers might have overestimated the potential rental returns that they can get through letting these properties.
Prof Ball said many such markets were “risky” because there was no history of what fundamental values should be.
Ian Marcus, head of European real estate at Credit Suisse, said he believed there was “a large over-supply” of holiday homes in many European resorts.
The warnings come amid widespread price falls in the second home markets of Florida with some resorts seeing double-digit drops in the past year. The number of home sales in Florida dropped 43 per cent between the first and second quarter.
In Spain, demand for second homes on the Mediterranean coast has been softening for two years, according to estate agents. Many have reported a virtual standstill since May after a series of corruption scandals and a collapse in property¬related shares.
At least one mid-sized developer – Llanera – faces bankruptcy. One central bank official in Madrid said: “There is growing evidence that smaller real estate companies and house-builders who launched projects late in the cycle may have problems.”

18,000 dwellings were built illegally during the administration of Jesus Gil

18,000 dwellings were built illegally during the administration of Jesus Gil and his local party, GIL. The Junta de Andalucia (socialist) and the new town council of the town (PP) are discussing how to resolve the situation. The Junta presented a General Plan in which it foresees “a revision and regularisation” of the illegal construction, plus construction of 50,000 new dwellings over 10 years and a declaration of 3.8 million m2 as green zones. However, part of the new green zones is declared as “urbanizable” in the previous general plan (meaning earmarked for construction). If the land is expropriated, the private owners may get only 30 to 35 Euro per m2 against the 800 which they paid
The solution may be to demand contributions from the promoters/owners of the illegally constructed dwellings. Since many of the promoting companies from the Gil Era have disappeared, this will mean private owners of the illegal dwellings will be presented with the bill. The new mayor, Angela Muñoz, recommended the people affected should present official complaints. The lawyers are looking forward to year long process.

Mari Luz Cortés possible lead in the case

El Mundo newspaper said Mari Luz’s grandfather, Juan José Cortés, spoke of ‘Romanian’ immigrants, who he thought may have kidnapped his grand-daughter out of ‘revenge’ for the family’s refusal to allow them stalls at the Sunday market they run in El Portil.
police are in contact with an un-named person who could be connected with the disappearance of Mari Luz Cortés, the five year old girl who went missing after leaving her home in Huelva City on Sunday to buy a bag of crisps. Juan José López Garzón told journalists that the person is not a suspect at this stage, nor has been arrested.
He also noted that there is no known connection with any other case of missing children, just as there is not, he said, between any of the other cases reported in Andalucía in recent months.
Mari Luz’s father, Juan José Cortés, speaking outside his home in the Torrejón district of Huelva, meanwhile told the press that police are working on a lead, and said he himself had a suspect in mind, although it had nothing to do with the police investigation, he said. He confirmed that Kate McCann, whose daughter Madeleine, went missing on the Portuguese Algarve in May last year, had been in contact to show her support.

Marcos Javier Rodríguez could have been involved in several unsolved disappearances of children

Police in Gran Canaria arrested a suspected accomplice of Marcos Javier Rodríguez, a 35-year-old man taken into custody last week for the attempted kidnapping of a nine-year-old girl.
José Segura, the government delegate in the Canary Islands, did not release the identity of the second suspect, although he indicated that he may have participated in the kidnapping attempt.
Rodríguez, the owner of an animal crematorium, who has a criminal record for sexually abusing his daughter, was identified by the victim in a police line-up last Tuesday. He allegedly grabbed the girl, Sandra Domínguez, as she walked home and tried to force her into the back of a white van.
The case has raised suspicions that Rodríguez, who has been remanded in custody, could have been involved in several unsolved disappearances of children on Gran Canaria in recent years, including that of 10-year-old Yeremi Vargas and 14-year-old Sara Morales. Police forensic teams scoured Rodríguez's closed-down crematorium last week in search of human remains.Police on Gran Canaria have been searching a pet crematorium on the Salinetas industrial estate in Telde in their investigations into Marcos Javier Rodríguez Cabrera, for any possible leads into the disappearance of two children missing from the Canary Islands, Yeremi Vargas and Sara Morales. The Mail on Sunday noted that officers on Gran Canaria ‘are aware of the Madeleine McCann case and have been fully briefed about it,’ and mentioned possible links to her case. They quoted a police source saying that cases of disappearing children are relatively ‘rare in this part of the world’ and ‘it is not impossible for those few that have occurred to be linked.’
The suspect worked at the crematorium before it was closed down. A specialist anthropologist has been called in to identify bones found at the scene, to establish whether they come from animals or humans.

Enrique and Leopoldo Faura:Grupo Mirador

The CEO of a Málaga developer and his brother are being charged with fraud by around 20 clients who made a down payment on houses that were never built.
The buyers, who are mostly British, filed charges against Grupo Mirador, which is run by Enrique and Leopoldo Faura, after waiting nearly five years for their homes to be built in Fuente de la Piedra. In April 2003 the victims of the alleged fraud paid between EUR 30,771 and EUR 88,024 in advance for houses whose construction is yet to be completed.
The irregular proceedings also extend to the bank that was meant to guarantee the return of the money should the contract between the clients and the developer be rescinded. Caja Hipotecaria Centro Sur S.A. was registered in Panama and is no longer operational.
A number of British citizens have taken the property company Grupo Mirador and the sales agency Palmera Properties to courts for fraud. The sales company, located in Benalmadena, which specialised in selling “off-plan properties”, took commissions of up to 3,500 Euro from the clients when they made their initial down payments.
Grupo Mirador, which had developments in Benalmadena, Villanueva de Rosario and Fuente de Piedra, spread over a number of small companies, have sold houses, which have later been seized as security against the companies’ debts. They have also issued payment notes without funds, used bank guarantees with a financial company that lacks authorisation for this activity and have failed to comply with the building specifications for their projects. Some of the companies in the group are in a ruinous financial situation, with important embargoes
The promoter Francisco Contreras, known as “El Pocero” upon a sentence for 4 years imprisonment by the Madrid courts, promptly appealed the decision in the Constitutional Courts. He deposited the 1.9 million Euro in guarantees demanded by the judge.
Contreras has projected a town with 13,500 dwellings in Sesena (Toledo), without guarantees for a stable water supply. The project was approved by the previous (socialist) mayor and also the regional government of Castilla – La Mancha.
In Catral (Alicante) the new PP municipal government, which succeeded the socialist mayor who had authorised the construction of 1,300 illegal houses, has presented a new general plan which includes all the illegal construction. The Regional government has ordered the bulldozing of 34 houses, is preparing the order for demolition of another 81. Over the summer the illegal construction has continued, in spite of the previous fireworks from the Regional Government
The PP majority in Orihuela town hall, without the obligatory certificate of water supply from the Hidrographic Conferederation of the water district Jucar, has approved a plan to build a further 2,570 houses on the coast.

Amy Fitzpatrick, Mari Luz Cortés just two of 200 disappeared in Spain

This year alone there has been 8,000 missing reports for children.Most are returned within a number of days.Amy Fitzpatrick, Mari Luz Cortés, Jeremy Vargas, Sara Morales, Josúe Monge are part of the 200 children who have remained disappeared with little or no trace as to there whereabouts.Police in Spain are looking for as many as 200 missing children across the mainland and the islands. Among those currently being searched for are Yeremi Vargas, Amy Fitzpatrick, Mari Luz Cortés, Sara Morales, and Juan Pablo Martínez.
The number of 200 is the number of open cases currently to be found in the archives of the National Police, Civil Guard, and the regional police forces La Ertzaintza and Los Mossos. When adults are included there are currently 11,936 people reported missing.
Each year some 8,000 disappearances are reported to the police but most of these turn out to be temporary cases, often of children running away.
The so-called ‘high risk’ cases are those where a crime has taken place and the child was taken against his or her will. These are often cases of kidnap, rape and even murder, police sources told the 20 minutos newspaper.
Police have also noted of late that there are more cases of a custody dispute between divorced parents, and that the numbers show that mixed marriages where one of the partners is foreign, have a greater possibility to end in such an outcome.
As an example of this they say in March last year the police found two brothers aged 8 and 6, who had been kidnapped by their father two years before.
The cases such as Yeremi Vargas or Sara Morales are those which unfortunately are more likely to end badly, and over the past ten years in Spain as many as 15 missing youngsters have been found dead. The last one was 15 year old, Fernanda Fabiola, who vanished in Tenerife in July last year and was found dead a month later. She had been raped by her killer, a Colombian man who has since been arrested.
Gran Canaria is the area of Spain most affected of late with the two high profile cases of Yeremi Vargas and Sara Morales. Just last week a local construction worker Marcos J.R.C, was arrested on the island accused of sexual abuse. He’s now being held in prison on remand.

Operation Ninette, the latest corruption investigation, Juan Escudero,Alfredo Blanco,Inmaculada Camacho

Operation Ninette, this latest corruption investigation is being treated separately from the main Malaya case in Marbella.National Police continue with their investigations in Los Alcázares, after the swoop on the Town Hall on Wednesday,when six suspects were taken into custody: they include the former Socialist Mayor of the town, Juan Escudero. The investigation is in the hands of the money laundering and crime squad.


A further 14 people were questioned as suspects on Thursday, in the ongoing corruption investigation ordered by a court in San Javier 18 months ago into links Juan Antonio Roca has in Murcia. He is at the centre of the Malaya corruption case in Marbella, Málaga province, and was formerly municipal real estate assessor at Marbella Town Hall.
La Verdad newspaper gave the names of some of those questioned on Thursday as the town planning councillor, Alfredo Blanco, and also Inmaculada Camacho, the sister-in-law of Mariano Ayuso, who was formerly chief architect at Los Alcázares Town Hall and now has responsibility for overseeing public works. He was amongst those taken into custody on Wednesday. The paper said Camacho is also a second cousin of Juan Escudero.
The search of Town Hall offices went on for some six hours on Wednesday, together with property searches which included a teaching academy owned by the ex Mayor. His home was also searched, and it’s understood three top range cars and a Harley Davidson motorbike were confiscated by police.
The Murcia Socialist Party have now named a management committee for their branch in Los Alcázares following the arrest of Escudero, their local general secretary. PSRM-PSOE have expelled him from the party

Amy Fitzpatrick a passion motive ?

La Opinion de Málaga reports that two main line of investigations are being followed in the case. Firstly that she left the area with someone she knew, or secondly, she is being held somewhere against her will.The Civil Guard is investigating what they describe a passion motive in the case of the disappearance of the missing 15 year old Irish girl, Amy Fitzpatrick, who vanished from Calahonda in Mijas Costa on the evening of New Year’s Day. This idea has apparently gained support following interviews of many of Amy’s friends carried out by the Guardia Civil.
Meanwhile a 34 year old British friend of the Fitzpatrick family has been arrested. Named in reports only by the initials R.B.O., he was being searched for in connection with two traffic offences which have no link to Amy’s disappearance. He spent last night in the prison in Alhaurín de la Torre after being arrested when he was called in for questioning as a friend of the family.

The Andalucian Ombudsman, Jose Chamizo has supported the demolition of 334 homes in a total of seven developments in Marbella.

Antonio Banderas luxury home La Gaviota built practically on the beach.
will be bulldozed.

The Andalucian Ombudsman, Jose Chamizo has supported the demolition of 334 homes in a total of seven developments in Marbella.
Marbella and in El Palmar, Cadiz, hundreds of houses are expected to get bulldozed this year.In Malaga, the Prasa hotel on Estepona’s beachfront is expected to be knocked down imminently, with the coastal authorities having agreed to stump up the 1.2million euro bill.Marbella town hall is also likely to soon announce the demolition of dozens of buildings, including the infamous Banana Beach development built on green land.
In Obeja, Cordoba, over 30 policemen were on hand to keep the angry residents away from their properties as the bulldozers moved in.
Grown men wept dusty tears, as their country retreats on the Pedrique urbanisation, in the heart of the Sierra Morena, were levelled to the ground.
An ambulance had to be called when one owner collapsed after suffering a panic attack.
It took two bulldozers only half a day to demolish the group of houses that number five of over 100 illegally built at Pedrique.
The residents belongings stood poignantly on their carefully clipped lawns as the diggers moved in.
One owner Antonio Moreno had moved here permanently after suffering depression following retirement.
“This situation has only made it considerably worse,” explained his wife Maria Moreno.
The case began when three years ago a promoter Francisco Otero sold the shells of the buildings to the five individuals.
What the buyers didn’t know was that Otero had never attempted to get planning permission “because he knew he would not get it”.
The case ended in court with Otero found guilty of both planning crimes and disobedience. In 2006 he was sentenced to a 20 months in prison and fined 2,500 euros.
He was also ordered to demolish the buildings at his own cost.
This week, the furious owners – who have begun proceedings against Otero - demanded to know why the town hall or local police had not advised them of the illegality of their homes.
“When he sold us the terrain he said the town hall was legalising the whole urbanisation, said Fernando Lora. “Why didn’t anyone come and tell us what might happen when we were finishing the houses.
“We are the victims of a completely unfair crime.”
A spokesman for environment group Ecologistas en Accion appauded the decision of the courts to order the demolition.
“They started building these homes in the 1970s in the Sierras above Cordoba. It has ruined the area and we salute the authorities for moving in.”
Around the province of Cordoba various other demolitions have been scheduled.
Apart from the other 100 homes at Pedrique, at Medina Azahara, UNESCO has demanded that 240 illegal houses built on highly protected land are knocked down.
At least one property in the area of Las Monjas in Puente Genil is expected to be demolished, while another at San Cristobal will be axed for “gravely destroying the countryside”.
The situation is similar in Granada where the town hall has just ordered the demolition of eight houses in an area of special protection known as Cantogrande, while another two have been ordered to be knocked down in Bobadilla and Serrallo.
They are some of over 40 houses ordered to be demolished in 2007 and owners have a month to appeal or submit and pay the town hall 600 euros to help fund the demolition.
In Cadiz the mayor of Vejer is hoping to legalise 280 houses that have been built without licences on the beach at El Palmer, but this still leaves over 1,000 illegal houses in the area.
At the same time the town hall has just ordered work to stop on 35 houses in the Padron area, which has never been designated as building land.
Marbella town hall is also likely to soon announce the demolition of dozens of buildings, including the infamous Banana Beach development built on green land and even Antonio Banderas luxury home La Gaviota built practically on the beach.
In total, there are more than 400 developments facing the axe in the town.
The President of the Marbella Management Committee, Diego Martin Reyes, has said he is worried about the situation, but that he was convinced that the firm sentence from the Andalucian Supreme Court ordering demolition should be carried out.

Meanwhile the Andalucian Ombudsman, Jose Chamizo has supported the demolition of 334 homes in a total of seven developments in Marbella.

Stewart "Specky" Boyd, Scots Mafia assassination over a bungled drugs deal ?

Stewart "Specky" Boyd, 40, died with his daughter Nicola, her friend and a three-year-old girl when the Audi coupe he was driving veered across a motorway on Spain's Costa del Sol and hit a BMW, killing two occupants.
Earlier investigations had suggested the former Glasgow enforcer's death could have been a professional hit over a pounds 2.5 million cocaine deal.
But Spain's chief traffic officer said there was no evidence to support claims that a timed bomb had been placed underneath the vehicle.
The cause of the accident is still being investigated by police in Spain. Scottish police have been helping with the inquiry.
Scottish Police arrested three men in connection with the assassination attempt on the brother of gangland enforcer Stewart ‘Specky’ Boyd.
Squads of officers, wearing bullet proof vests, targeted a number of houses almost five months after an armed gang tried to gun down 48-year-old Hugh Boyd in a drive-by shooting near Barrhead’s busy town centre.
The raids, all simultaneous and carried out with military precision, happened during daylight and miles apart in different housing schemes.
One source said two of the men were held at one of the house swoops. A third was detained in the wake of another raid.
The source added: “The men cops were after didn’t stand a chance – I don’t think they knew what had hit them. A squad of cops were at the door of homes one moment and inside the next.Horrified Boyd was hit as five shots rang out while he sat behind the wheel of a red Vauxhall Vectra at the junction of Southpark Avenue and Glen Street, close to Barrhead Library, at around 9.30am on August 29 last year
At the time, sources said he survived because he ducked and the bullets shot by him. He was later taken to hospital and treated for minor injuries.
Armed response officers, carrying automatics weapons, were among the first at the scene. Shocked residents said children would have been in the street if the hit had happened 45 minutes earlier. Police cordoned off the usually quiet area as forensic searched for clues.
Officers were also comparing notes on a series of other shootings in Pollok and Nitshill. And police in Paisley were checking out possible links with the Stock Street drive-by shooting last August when teenager Andrew Devlin was blasted to death. A pal with him, 26-year Gerald O’Doherty is still seriously ill in hospital.
Spanish national police probing the death of a Scottish gangster whose sports car burst into flames ruled out claims it was a Scottish Mafia assassination over a bungled drugs deal, but the full report as to the cause of the accident and the mystery surrounding the fire still remain.

Mari Luz Cortes seen in the company of a woman on a bus

The missing girl was seen in the company of a woman on a bus, hours after she went missing.
Senora Cortes said: "It's a credible lead for me because the woman gave a lot of facts about the clothes the girl was wearing."
"I think it could be my daughter."
Five-year-old Mari Luz Cortez vanished from Huelva, on the Spanish border just 120 miles away from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz, where Madeleine disappeared on May 3.
Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell told reporters there were similarities to the Madeleine case but it was too early to be definite. He said private investigators hired by the family are working with police as a matter of priority.
"Our investigators, Metodo 3 are working very closely with the Spanish police in the first instance, and with the family to establish whether there are any links or similarities," he said.
He added Kate and Gerry McCann were "... highly concerned to hear that another young girl has gone missing in the region. Their thoughts and prayers are with the Cortez family."
Both Kate and Gerry McCann have been named by Portuguese investigators as "arguidos", or official suspects, in the disappearance of their four-year-old daughter though neither has faced charges.
A spokesman for the family said: "It is normal that she would go to the shop alone. It is only round the corner."
"No child has ever gone missing here before. It is a family neighbourhood, where everyone knows everyone," he said.
"The family have lived here all their lives."