SERIAL killer Eric 'Lucky' Wilson operated in a hitman-for-hire team along with three close relatives, one of whom is suspected of murdering Roma teenager Marioara Rostas after holding her as a sex slave.
The band of blood killers worked as trigger-happy, cocaine-fuelled assassins for every major criminal in Dublin and are believed to be behind countless gangland assassinations.
At one point Eric Wilson compiled a hit list for 'Fat' Freddie Thompson of who he could take out in the rival Rattigan mob.
The list, which was seized during a search of his house in Portarlington, Co. Laois, included the names of Brian Rattigan's sister Sharon, his disabled brother Jason and his then girlfriend Natasha McEnroe.
Convicted
Wilson had done months of reconnaisance on eight associates of Rattigan he believed would be easily shot dead, including the his right-hand man Shay O'Byrne, who would later die in girlfriend Sharon's arms.
Wilson was convicted of murdering roofer Dan Smith in Spain this week, after a court heard he blasted him in the head and twice in the testicles because the Englishman tried to stop him touching up a woman in a bar near the seaside resort of Fuengirola in June 2010.
During his trial it emerged that Wilson is a contract killer. The jury was shown a transcript of phone calls intercepted by Spanish police investigating organised crime and drug trafficking.
The documents related to a conversation between two unnamed criminals after Wilson's arrest. During the call, they discuss how they were worried that Wilson would do a deal and grass up "the boys".
Today, the Sunday World can reveal how Wilson:is suspected of using a chainsaw to dismember two of his victims to hide their bodies;
tricked another victim into travelling to Spain for safety and then murdered and buried him in a shallow grave;
was schooled in murder by one of the country's most senior IRA figures, who is involved in a bitter feud with that has already claimed two victims.The IRA don regularly gave Wilson and his murdering relatives use of his €1million pad in Marbella to escape to after their hits;
was contracted to kill by the country's top underworld figures, including Christy Kinahan, Eamon 'the Don' Dunne, the gangster known as 'the Panda' and Freddie Thompson, among others;
worked with three male relatives who all hired out their services as contract killers including one, nicknamed 'the Soldier', who is the chief suspect in the disappearance of 17-year-old Marioara and;
commanded fees of up to €10,000 a hit from feuding gang bosses and was so professional he compiled dossiers on each victim before moving in for his kill.
Gardai believe Wilson is the most prolific contract murderer in the history of gangland crime in Ireland. They say the psychopath had an incredible appetite for murder and was joined in his chosen career by three relations.
Wilson is one of the chief suspects in the disappearance of drug dealers David 'Baby Face' Lindsay and his former sidekick Alan 'Wacker' Napper, missing since 2008.
Officers believe that Wilson was hired by crime boss 'the Panda' to get rid the pair and a €2.5million drugs debt he owed them.
The duo were last seen in Clane, Co. Kildare, where they had gone to see a gang associate who loaned Lindsay his car. It is believed they then drove to a house in Rostrevor in County Down to meet 'the Panda' and sort out the debt.
Instead they were killed in July 2008 and 'the Panda' later bragged that he and an associate, believed to be Wilson, then cut up the bodies with a chainsaw before dumping them in a grave.
Months previously, 17-year-old Marioara was working as a prostitute on a Dublin street when Wilson's relative and closest friend, 'the Soldier', pulled in and did a deal to hire her for sex.
She had been just weeks in the country at the time of her disappearance in January 2008 and was with a younger brother on East Lombard Street when she was propositioned.
It is understood that an agreement was made that the man would have sex with her and then drop her back to her brother - but he never did.
Two days after her disappearance, her family realised that she was in grave danger and reported her missing to Gardai.
A year after an appeal on Crimecall, officers received a tip-off that led them to a house on Brabazon Street, in Dublin 8, where they now believe that Marioara was held as a sex slave by Wilson's relative.
The house had been torched, with fires set on three separate floors, but forensics still combed it for evidence and discovered six separate gunshots in the walls.
No DNA belonging to the girl was found, but officers believe a major clean-up had been conducted before the fires were set. In the bedroom where investigators believe that the teenager was kept, the walls had been washed down and furniture removed.
But the remains of a charred deadbolt lock was found on the outside of the bedroom door and the windows had been nailed shut from the inside.
Sources close to the investigation say Wilson and his relative were best friends and spent a lot of time together since they were young.
"They were incredibly tight, like two peas in a pod," the source said. "Both spent their time high on cocaine and heroin; they were super paranoid and were incredibly violent.They were both working as hitmen and they wouldn't have thought twice about helping one another out if a murder needed to be covered up."
Wilson is also suspected of murdering drug dealers Paul Reay in 2006, assassinated on the orders of slain crime boss Martin 'Marlo' Hyland, who would die later that year himself, and Roy Coddington, murdered in Co. Meath in 2007 because he had failed to pay protection money to the IRA.
In 2009, he convinced hitman Christy Gilroy to travel to Spain for safety as Gardai were pursuing him for a double murder. Once he arrived, Gardai believe, Wilson went to meet him, shot him in the back of the head and buried him in a shallow grave. His body has never been found.
He has also been linked to the disappearance of associate Alan Campbell in Spain last year. He went missing in March and is believed to be dead.
During the conversation read to the jury at his murder trial this week, two unidentified criminals discuss Wilson.
In the leaked files obtained by the Sunday World and handed to the jury before they retired to discuss their verdict, the two criminals 'B' and 'P' state:
B: "The relatives are looking for the bodies and Wilson could do a deal with the authorities. There are people who are worried he will take a lot of others down with him if he does do a deal.
P: "How many bodies there are?
B: "There are more than ten in Ireland alone.
P: "There are three or four in Drogheda and five in Dublin and another two somewhere in the countryside.
B: " Wilson is the main suspect for ten murders, but the police don't have any proof. Wilson is a nutter, but they've never arrested him. The boys are worried he's going to grass them up and walk and they're going to get life.
B: "The other murders Eric's committed previously were meticulously planned but not this one in Spain, which was down to drunkeness and which has left Wilson in the s**t. Wilson is a ticking timebomb.
B: "Something was published in the Sunday World (B asks how the paper knew that, because not many people knew he sold guns and didn't get rid of them) The article doesn't say who they sold the pistols to."
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
SERIAL killer Eric 'Lucky' Wilson operated in a hitman-for-hire team
Suspect in alleged £10m Ponzi scheme case extradited
Richard Pollett, a suspect in the allegedly fraudulent Gilher investment scheme, has been extradited from Spain to appear before Bradford magistrates.
Pollet has been charged with conspiracy to defraud in connection with the alleged Ponzi scheme, which attracted more than £10 million of investors funds and incurred losses thought to be around £6 million.
Pollett has also been charged with making misleading statements and has been granted conditional bail.
The Gilher investment scheme targeted investors based in the UK and Spain. The Serious Fraud Office launched an investigation into the scheme in November 2009, with the assistance of the West Yorkshire and Surrey police forces.
Last month Daniel Hirst, Linda Hirst and Zoe White were charged in relation to the scheme, while in April John Hirst was charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud and two counts of money laundering.
The Guardia Civil who killed his ex-boyfriend in a Madrid gym has himself died.
45 year old Sergeant Ángel Luis J.T died in the Gregorio Marañón Hospital from serious head injuries he suffered when he tried to commit suicide after the attack.
On Tuesday evening he had gone to the Holiday Gym in the Plaza de República Dominicana in the capital and killed his ex boyfriend, a 28 year old, Marcos H.H. who worked in the gym, by shooting him in the forehead.
Health and Civil Protección said the victim had suffered several shots, but it was the shot to the head which had proved fatal.
Two guns were found at the scene of the shooting, a revolver and a Beretta pistol, both of them belonging to the Guardia Civil sergeant who has now died.
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Stephen Devalda, 28 arrested in March this year outside a hotel on the Costa del Sol.
JUSTICE finally caught up with a robber who fled the country while on trial for an armed raid in Colne.
Stephen Devalda, 28, has confessed to conspiring to rob a Royal Mail security van near the town’s Asda store in 2005.
The robbery involved a security guard having a gun held to his head, while he was beaten with a machete and forced to hand over £25,000.
But Devalda skipped bail before his Burnley Crown Court trial and was only arrested in March this year outside a hotel on the Costa del Sol.
Yesterday he appeared before Judge Norman Wright and pleaded guilty to two conspiracy to rob charges.
He was remanded in custody, for pre-sentence reports to be prepared, and will next appear in court on September 30.
Devalda was caught as a result of Operation Gulf, a combined initiative involving law enforcement agencies in the UK and Spain.
Detectives from the Serious Organised Crime Agency and Greater Manchester Police snared the Salford-born robber in Marbella.
He had been travelling between Thailand and the Costa del Sol on a false passport when he was detained.
The same operation also saw the capture in Amsterdam of his younger brother Sean, who was also on the run for armed robbery.
Police are still hunting one of Stephen Devalda’s accomplices, Andrew Moran, who was convicted of his involvement in the Colne raids but fled before he could be sentenced.
Det Insp Simon Cheyte, of Lancashire Police, when Devalda was arrested, said: “We have worked incredibly hard, not only here in Lancashire, but with our colleagues across the globe in order to trace him.”
Prisoner dies after five months on hunger strike in Spain
convicted rapist has died after five months on hunger strike in Teruel, despite being force fed by judicial order since March.
Tohuami Hamdaoui, a 41 year old from Morocco, entered prison in Alicante in February 2009 after he was sentenced to 16 years for robbery and sexually assaulting a 13 year old girl. He was transferred to Teruel in May 2010 and began his hunger strike in February this year to demand that his case be revised, maintaining that he was innocent of the charges for which he had been convicted.
He was admitted to hospital when his health became worse, where El País reports that he would try to remove the feeding tubes from his body. Prison psychologists were unable to convince him to give up his protest, and a relative who the prisons department located in France and who travelled over to Spain was also unsuccessful.
Tohuami Hamdaoui died at Teruel’s Obispo Polanco Hospital on Sunday morning.
The UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) is asking holidaymakers and ex-pats on the Spanish Costas to be on the look out for two fugitives.
The UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) is asking holidaymakers and ex-pats on the Spanish Costas to be on the look out for two fugitives.
The men, Kirk Bradley and Anthony Downes, escaped on Monday 18 July when the prison van they were travelling in was attacked by a gang armed with guns and baseball bats. At the time they were on their way from HMP Manchester to a court in Liverpool to face firearms charges. The security van driver and his passenger were taken to hospital though they are not thought to be badly hurt. The attackers escaped with the prisoners in a car.
SOCA believes that because of long-standing links the men may be attempting to travel to Spain, or may even already be there. Downes is known to be an associate of Kevin Parle, another fugitive on the Crimestoppers 'most wanted' list, who is thought to be in Spain and is wanted in connection with two murders in Liverpool.
SOCA's Frank Francis said:
"These are dangerous men and it is very important that nobody approaches them. We are asking people who think they may have seen them to call Crimestoppers, either in Spain or in the UK. You can do this free, and completely anonymously. Our priority is getting these two back into custody as soon as possible."
also known to associates as Fat Tony, is 24 years old, 5'7" with blue eyes and short straight dark hair.
Monday, 25 July 2011
Christy Kinahan is back behind bars this week after his multi-million trail of dirty money caught up with him.Friday, 22 July 2011
Gardaí are investigating the connection between a Dublin man jailed in Spain and the disappearance and murder of seven other men in Ireland
investigation is taking place into a possible link between a man jailed in Spain and the murder and disappearance of seven other men in Ireland over the past five years.
Eric Wilson from Ballyfermot was sentenced to 23 years in prison for shooting dead an English man in a bar in Fuengirola last summer.
Gardaí are seeking access to forensic and other evidence gathered in Spain as part of that investigation and have already interviewed Wilson in Spain.
At his trial, the court heard that the 27-year-old got into an argument with the victim after a woman accused Wilson of touching her.
Wilson went home on his motorbike and came back with a gun and shot 24-year-old Dan Smith several times.
Wilson is well known to gardaí and is suspected of being involved in the disappearance and murders of six other men.
Detectives believe he was hired by the late crime boss, Martin 'Marlo' Hyland, to kill Paul Reay in 2006 and Roy Coddington, whose body was found on Mornington Beach, in 2007.
They are also investigating if he killed David Lindsay and Alan Napper who went missing in July 2009.
Lyndsay was owed €1m by a Dublin criminal and gardai have been told that he hired Wilson to murder him.
He is also suspected of being involved in the murders of Martin Kenny and Anthony Cannon in Ballyfermot in 2005 and 2009, and the murder in Spain of a Dublin criminal, who disappeared shortly after the murders of drug dealer Michael 'Roly' Cronin and James Maloney in 2009.
Gardai say Wilson, nicknamed Lucky, was a gunman for hire.
His modus operandi was to arrive and leave a murder scene on a motorbike.
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Organised burglary gang arrested on the Costa Blanca
National Police released news on Tuesday that arrested eight members of an organised gang of burglars have been arrested in Alicante, who are believed to be responsible for some 30 robberies in the province and in neighbouring Murcia.
The gang was led by a man from Bulgaria, who ran a successful business in Alfàs del Pi where he lived under a false identity. The remaining suspects are another two from Bulgaria, two Germans, a Russian, and two others from Estonia and the UK. It’s understood from Europa Press that most of them have previous criminal records.
The news agency said one of the German gang members selected some of the targets from the properties where he was employed for maintenance.
The first arrests were in Elche last Thursday night, when some of the group were caught in the act trying to break in to a local sports club. The remainder were arrested in Orihuela and Benidorm on Friday.
Police recovered a large number of stolen items in the six property searches which place, which Europa Press reports are on display at the National Police station in Benidorm for their owners to reclaim. They include plasma televisions, more than 80 watches, and Lladró figurines.
Officers also confiscated wire cutters, hydraulic jacks and other tools the gang used in the break-ins.
Estepona:National Police released news on Tuesday of an operation against an international drugs network which has arrested 12 people and seized 250 kilos of cocaine.
National Police released news on Tuesday of an operation against an international drugs network which has arrested 12 people and seized 250 kilos of cocaine.
The gang operated in Sevilla, Málaga and Alicante and used warehouses in Sevilla and inland Málaga to store the drugs. The gang was led from Argentina, where a large part of the proceeds of the sales were sent. 576,000 € due to be sent to Argentina was seized in a raid on a flat in Estepona, Málaga province, plus another 74,000 € from two people who were arrested at Málaga Airport in possession of one kilo of cocaine.
The remainder of the quarter ton of cocaine was seized in separate operations at the network’s warehouses in Málaga and Sevilla, and in Murcia, where two suspects were arrested on route to Alicante after picking up a consignment of drugs in the Andalucía capital.
The Interior Ministry said in a press release on Tuesday that three of the suspects are from Argentina and include a man who is wanted for murder by Interpol.
27 year old Irishman, Eric Wilson, charged with the murder of 24 year old Briton, Daniel J. Smith, in a pub in Mijas Costa last year has been sentenced to 23 years in prison.
27 year old Irishman, Eric Wilson, charged with the murder of 24 year old Briton, Daniel J. Smith, in a pub in Mijas Costa last year has been 
sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Tuesday’s sentence from the Málaga provincial court also orders him to pay 100,000 € compensation to the victim’s family and bans him from any contact with them for 35 years. The victim's mother, Karen, had been demanding 300,000 € compensation.
It happened on the terrace of a bar in the Riviera del Sol Urbanisation in Mijas Costa, and the prosecutor alleged that Daniel Smith returned to the scene with the intention of killing the Briton, taking out a nine mm pistol and firing twice as his victim was trying to get out of his chair. The Briton fell onto the floor and was shot again repeatedly at close range, according to the prosecutor whose view has been printed in the La Opinión de Málaga newspaper.
Daniel Smith suffered as many as 11 gunshots, two in the jaw, two in the back, one in the buttocks, three in the forearm, two in the scrotum and the last one in the thigh. He died shortly after as one of the shots had punctured his right lung.
The accused was arrested some days later in Coín, and although the gun was not found the Guardia Civil did find hand grenades and plastic explosives.
Daniel Smith had been wanted by Essex Police in connection with the attempted murder of Douglas Turner on July 7 2007 at Stock, near Chelmsford.
Monday, 18 July 2011
'Mad' Frankie Fraser grandson arrested in Gibraltar
The grandson of the former London gangland enforcer "Mad" Frankie Fraser has been arrested in Gibraltar over an alleged drug-smuggling plot.
Anthony Fraser, 39, was on a list of 10 wanted individuals, thought to be in Spain, published in February.
Crimestoppers said he had given himself up on Monday afternoon and the process to extradite him to the UK would begin.
He is suspected of being involved in importing two tonnes of cannabis to the UK from the Netherlands in 2009.
The arrest was made in relation to a joint Serious Organised Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police investigation.
He was the sixth person to be arrested from the batch of 10 suspected criminals revealed under Operation Captura.
Mr Fraser disappeared after cannabis with a street value of £5m was discovered at a storage unit in Grays, Essex, in a truck full of frozen chicken from the Netherlands.
Five people were subsequently convicted of drugs offences and jailed for between six and seven years at Southwark Crown Court.
Mr Fraser's grandfather, 87-year-old "Mad" Frankie Fraser, was an associate of the notorious Kray and Richardson crime families.
Spain busts 'biggest' European drugs network, 20 held
Spanish police Monday announced the seizure of 25 million euros ($35 million) in cash and the arrest of 20 people in an operation against "the biggest money-laundering and drug-trafficking network in Europe."
A total of 16 people were detained in Spain and four in the United States, said the police, who worked in cooperation with the FBI and judicial authorities in Miami.
It was "the biggest quantity of cash seized at one time," they said in a statement.
It said authorities seized 21 properties in Spain and four in the United States worth a total of 75 million euros, as well as 60 cars.
"One of the money-laundering methods was to buy and sell luxury cars," the statement said.
Spain's proximity to north Africa, a key source of hashish, and its close ties with its former colonies in Latin America, a major cocaine producing region, have made it a major gateway into Europe for drug traffickers.
Sunday, 17 July 2011
Briton stabbed in Puerto Banús
17 year old British man is reported to have been stabbed at 5am on Saturday morning in Puerto Banús, Marbella, when he went to defend some women friends.
It seems that a group of six people were insulting the women who were accompanying the injured Briton, and when he went to defend them he was stabbed in the groin. The injury is 4cms deep according to reports.
The victim was taken to a private hospital in Marbella by one of his friends where he is reported to be out of danger and under observation.
Marbella National Police are working on the case, but as yet no arrest has been made.
Saturday, 16 July 2011
Costa killer suspected of at least 10 gang murders
Gardai want to quiz psycho killer Eric 'Lucky' Wilson over a spate of unsolved murders here, which they believe he carried out as a 'freelance' assassin.
Wilson was convicted of blasting 24-year-old British criminal Daniel Smith to death in a packed Spanish bar and now faces a potential 25-year jail term, the Herald can reveal.
The victim was shot a number of times in a row over a woman.
Wilson (27), who has been on the run from gardai since 2006, could then be be extradited back to Ireland.
They also want to charge him over a major firearms seizure in Co Carlow that year and also a serious assault in Co Laois in 2004.
A senior source explained: "Eric Wilson is the most prolific gun-for-hire in the history of Irish organised crime. He is completely ruthless, psychotic and had a solid reputation of always getting his man."
Detectives from the NBCI travelled to Spain earlier this year to question him about these killings, but Wilson refused to meet them when they arrived at the jail he was in.
The hitman, from Cremona Road, Ballyfermot, is suspected of working for a number of Ireland's most dangerous drugs gangs and regularly travelling back and forward from Spain's Costa-Del-Sol to Ireland with a false passport before his arrest in Fuengirola last June.
These gangs include the northside crews that were led by slain crime lords Martin 'Marlo' Hyland and Eamon 'The Don' Dunne as well as notorious hood Paul 'Burger' Walsh's drugs gang.
Wilson has also worked for the godfather of Irish crime Christy Kinahan, and 'Fat' Freddie Thompson's mob.
However he has always been closest to the current 'Mr Big' of Irish crime -- a shadowy major league criminal who is aged in his 50s and has made millions of euro by importing illegal cigarettes into Ireland.
Feud
Sources say that 'Mr Big' has been a "mentor and financial backer" of Wilson since the hitman was only a child but has "left him to hang out to dry" because of the reckless murder in Spain of Daniel Smith which 'Mr Big' considered "highly stupid", according to sources.
'Mr Big', who has major Provo credentials, cannot be named for legal reasons but he was in involved in a bitter feud with the Real IRA last summer which led to two murders and a number of shooting incidents.
This feud has now eased and 'Mr Big' spends most of his time in Spain where he was regularly spotted in 'Lucky' Wilson's company before he was locked up last June.
Sources have confirmed that Wilson is the chief suspect for two gang murders in Co Louth in 2006 and 2007 -- that of Paul Reay and Roy Coddington.
Drug dealer Reay was shot dead in November 2006 on the orders of Finglas gang boss Hyland -- himself shot dead later that year.
The 26-year-old father-of- three was hit three times in the chest after the car he was travelling in was waved down by a gunman posing as a road worker just outside Drogheda, Co Louth.
Gardai believe Reay was targeted because his killers thought he tipped off detectives about a major drugs haul seized near Athboy, Co Meath, in 2005.
Drug dealer Coddington (36) was shot twice in the face and once in the chest at Mornington beach, Co Meath in March 2007.
Sources also suspect that Wilson was involved in the abduction, torture and murder of criminals David 'Babyface' Lindsay and Alan 'Whacker' Napper, who disappeared without trace almost three years ago.
Gardai believe the unfortunate duo were murdered in a house in Co Down on the orders of the notorious drugs trafficker, nicknamed 'The Panda' by the media, after they threatened to kidnap his mother.
Sources say that once Lindsay and Napper were tortured and shot, their bodies were cut up and dumped in the Irish Sea.
Gardai have also been investigating Wilson's links to the murder of King Ratt gang enforcer Anthony Cannon (26) who was gunned down in Ballyfermot in July 2009 on the orders of the 'Fat' Freddie gang.
Gruesome
Another Ballyfermot murder linked to Wilson is that of Martin Kenny (22) who was shot dead as he slept beside his girlfriend in May 2005.
Sources have also confirmed that gardai have investigated if Wilson was responsible for shooting dead gangland figure Andrew 'Madser' Glennon (30) in Blanchardstown just a fortnight before Kenny's murder.
Another gruesome murder that Wilson is suspected of is that of north inner city hood Christopher Gilroy (36) who disappeared without trace in Spain in February 2009.
Wilson is also suspected of involvement in shooting a man dead in the Crumlin area over a decade ago when he was just a teenager. This victim is understood to have given a female cousin of Wilson's a beating.
And a very close associate of Wilson is a feared gangster from the south inner city who is the chief suspect for abducting and murdering 19-year-old Romanian girl Marioara Rostas in January 2008.
Friday, 15 July 2011
Puerto del Rosario, Fuerteventura's capital,British teenager was stabbed 13 times and saw her boyfriend murdered in a bloodbath on a holiday island.
Maddison Wrixon, 18, tried to fight off a crazed knifeman who tied up Cristian Santana Guerra, 21, then stabbed him to death.
Miss Wrixon, who lives on the Canary island of Fuerteventura, underwent emergency surgery which saved her life.
Narrow escape: Maddison desperately tried to fight off her attacker, who stabbed her boyfriend to death in front of her
Knife attack: Maddison Wrixon, 18, was stabbed 13 times and saw her boyfriend murdered while on the Canary island of Fuerteventura
Police said she was expected to pull through and was recovering in intensive care. 
The alleged attacker, reportedly a friend of the couple, was arrested hours later by police.
Miss Wrixon is thought to have been dating Mr Guerra, from the neighbouring island of Gran Canary, for just two weeks.
The couple were at Mr Guerra's flat in Puerto del Rosario, Fuerteventura's capital, when their friend David, 20, arrived yesterday afternoon.
The friend is alleged to have pulled out a knife, threatened Mr Guerra, tied his hands up and stabbed him repeatedly, puncturing vital organs.
Local reports said Miss Wrixon tried to fight of the attacker, who then stabbed her 13 times, causing her to collapse on the floor.
Her boyfriend ran out of the flat, blood pouring from him, in a bid to get help.
Neighbours who heard the couple's screams called police, who found the boyfriend dead at 1pm in a hallway of the block of flats.
A police source told The Sun: 'The apartment looked like the scene of a horror movie.'
Newspapers on the island said the attacker was well known to police.
Attack: A 20-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of stabbing another man to death and seriously injuring his British girlfriend in Puerto del Rosario, the capital of Fuerteventura
He left the knife and his mobile phone at the scene of the horrific crime, it was reported.
The alleged attacker, sporting a Taxi Driver-style mohawk haircut, was later arrested by armed officers.
Maddison, who is half Spanish, was taken by ambulance to the Virgen de la Pena general hospital, where she is recovering in intensive care.
A police source said: 'This was a shockingly brutal murder. Maddison appears to be an innocent victim whose only crime was to try to protect her boyfriend.'
Crime scene: Cristian Santana Guerra bled to death in this hallway
The murder and attempted murder are being investigated by the National Police under the instructions of a magistrate at Investigative Court 1 in Puerto de Rosario.
A spokesman for the National Police, said: 'We are investigating the death of a 20-year-old man and an attack on his British girlfriend on Wednesday.
'She underwent surgery on Thursday morning and is out of danger. A 20-year-old man has been arrested.'
A source at the Interior Ministry's office in Gran Canaria said the attack was believed to have been sparked by a drug debt.
The attack took place on the Canary island of Fuerteventura, where the British teenager, 18-year-old Maddison Wrixon, was living
gunman who fled to Spain back in UK - and back behind bars
HE was supposed to be on trial for attempted murder after a motiveless shooting in Huddersfield town centre.
But for Bradley Okoro the prospect of spending time in a rain-soaked British prison was too much – so under the nose of a crown court judge, the Oakes man jumped bail and fled to Spain.
However, his foreign adventure came to a sudden end yesterday when he was brought into Leeds Crown Court and handed another eight months for fleeing the UK – by the same judge who sentenced him to 18 years for the gun attack.
In April 2006, Okoro had put a bullet through a car window on Cross Church Street and wounded Sheffield man Damien Munroe on his forehead – millimetres away from his brain.
After an intensive police investigation Okoro and two accomplices were arrested, charged and were due to stand trial when, in 2008, Okoro jumped bail and made his way abroad.
He was subsequently found guilty of the attack and sentenced in his absence.
Okoro’s accomplices were acquitted of attempted murder but found guilty of attempted grievous bodily harm with intent, violent disorder and possessing a firearm. They were sentenced to 11 and 10 years in prison.
Meanwhile instead of keeping his nose clean in a new country Okoro wound up remanded in prison in Seville for drug trafficking.
Now worried about his criminal past – and 18 year sentence – catching up with him, Okoro told Spanish cops his name was Daniel Smith as he was jailed for more than three years.
But little did he know police in Huddersfield had sent copies of his fingerprints across Europe via the Serious and Organised Crime Agency.
After a tip off he was in Spain, cops compared Smith’s prints with those of Okoro and the missing gunman was found and eventually hauled back to the UK to serve his sentence.
At Leeds Crown Court yesterday, Tom Bayliss QC, prosecuting, told the court that Okoro was sentenced to three years two months in Spain for his offences there and since his extradition was serving the remains of that sentence concurrent with his 18 years.
Thursday, 14 July 2011
British woman injured in stabbing attack in Fuerteventura
A man, named as Christian S. has died after being found bound and stabbed in a doorway of a residential block in Puerto del Rosario in Fuerteventura. Next to the man was his girlfriend, who had also been stabbed and who was in a serious condition. She has been revealed in reports to be British and has suffered cuts to her arms.
Reporting restrictions have been placed on the case, but it is known that it happened between 1pm and 2pm in a building in Puerto del Rosario where the couple are reported to have lived, according to the Government Delegation on the Canaries.
The couple were found by a neighbour on the stairs of the building. Neighbours say the couple had only been going out together for a few weeks.
Latest reports indicate that a man in his 20’s has been arrested. He has a police record and was arrested on Wednesday afternoon in Puerto del Rosario.
It’s thought that the possible cause of the attack was a debt for drugs.
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
20-year-old British woman has died in Ibiza, following unconfirmed reports she had taken ecstasy.
Jodie Nieman was at the Space nightclub in the Playa d'en Bossa resort on the island's southeast coast when she fell ill.
Local police said they could not confirm reports she had taken ecstasy, as they were waiting for the results of a post-mortem examination.
An ambulance was called at 4.30am on Wednesday morning and Ms Nieman was taken to the Can Misses hospital, suffering from a heart attack, a hospital spokesman said.
"Ambulance staff tried to resuscitate her and when she arrived at hospital, medics continued to try and save her but it was not possible and she died at 5am," he said.
Ms Nieman had been staying in an apartment on the resort and was out with a group of female friends.
They had taken ecstasy, the hospital spokesman said, but he could not confirm whether the woman who died had taken the drug as well.
A spokeswoman for the Civil Guard in Majorca said: "Police are investigating the death of a British woman from Croydon (south London). At the moment we cannot confirm the cause of death.
"Results of the post-mortem examination are expected later today or tomorrow."
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We are aware of the death of a British national in Ibiza in the early hours of this morning and are providing consular assistance to the family."
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Eric ‘Lucky’ Wilson, 27, allegedly shot Smith, 24, a dozen times at point blank range
Eric ‘Lucky’ Wilson, 27, allegedly shot Smith, 24, a dozen times at point blank range outside the Lounge Bar, in Riviera in June 2010.
The prosecutor at Malaga Provincial Court is calling for an 18-year prison sentence for Wilson and wants the Irishmen to pay 45,793 euros in compensation.
As first reported in the Olive Press, Smith had angered the Irishman after he stepped in to defend a female friend who had been allegedly groped by Wilson.
A fight broke out and Wilson allegedly left the bar, returning 30 minutes later with a gun.
He was arrested at his farm in Coin, less than 48 hours after the attack, and a search of the house found explosives, grenades and fake passports.
The victim’s mother Karen Wetherell, who was present in Malaga Provincial Court this week, is also bringing a separate private prosecution.
She said: “Thanks for getting in touch, but at this stage I am not willing to answer any questions.”
Her lawyer Carlos Comitre added however: “The case is very clear and there is no doubt that (he) is the murderer.
“We want to get the maximum sentence and see justice for the family.”
Sunday, 10 July 2011
BRITON accused of murdering a Moroccan man in Tenerife in 2008 has spoken of his relief after being cleared.
A BRITON accused of murdering a Moroccan man in Tenerife in 2008 has spoken of his relief after being cleared.
Stephen Johnson, 56, said he was “exhausted but delighted” after being found not guilty in the city of Santa Cruz.
He said: “Three years and seven months of mine and my family’s lives are ruined.”
His wife Joan, 54, was angry the local court convicted and fined him for fighting, which he will appeal against.
She said: “The lawyer said that would happen, so he can’t claim compensation.”
Mr Johnson, of Hetton-le-Hole, Tyne & Wear, always protested his innocence, saying he was trying to break up a fight. He may have to wait for three weeks to get his passport back before he can return home.
Saturday, 9 July 2011
Spanish government gave the green light to approve Egypt's request to extradite businessman Hussein Salem, who holds Egyptian and Spanish nationalities.
This came at the request of the Spanish Minister of Justice Francisco Caamaño, who recommended pressing ahead with the extradition.
Egypt gave Spain three guarantees: that Salem will be tried fairly, that representatives from the Spanish judicial authority will be allowed to attend the hearings in Cairo, and that Salem will not be sentenced to death, as illicit gains is not a crime punishable by death in Egypt.
According to informed sources, the Spanish government's approval is an essential step in extradition proceedings, as it obligates the Spanish judiciary, represented by Spain's National Court, to hand Salem over to the Egyptian government.
Meanwhile, an Egyptian source asserted that "the Spanish government is cooperating with us by all means, and they have no objection to [Salem's] extradition if there are no legal obstacles. But judiciary obstacles still exist, as [Salem] is a Spanish national, and he is accused of committing crimes in Spain - therefore he should be punished for them first."
The source added that Salem will not be handed over now because the judicial process has not yet started, and so far Salem has only been placed under house arrest.
Magdy al-Shafie, director general of Egyptian Interpol, said by Friday night Egyptian authorities had not yet received an official response from Spain regarding Salem's handover, and he is still under arrest in a hospital there.
"The Egyptian authorities follow Salem's case with great interest through the Foreign Ministry and our embassy in Spain, and Attorney General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud is also following it up through the Department of International Cooperation," he added.
He said the decision to hand over Salem would be taken by the Spanish judiciary, which has the right to reject or accept Egypt's request. He said the file Egypt sent to the Spanish authorities contains a lot of evidence to support the case for extradition.
Salem is currently under arrest at Gregorio Marañón hospital after a Spanish court set a huge bail for him, amounting to 27 million euros.
Venezuela Seizes Almost 7 Tons Cocaine Hidden in Heavy Machinery
Spanish news agency EFE reports, the operation began when Spanish intelligence officials learned in February of a plot to ship construction equipment to the South American country, which drug traffickers would then use to conceal a cargo of cocaine to send back to Spain. This information was relayed to Venezuelan authorities, who began monitoring the boat, until it was loaded with 6.7 metric tons of cocaine in the port city of San Felix Palua on July 7. On top of the seizure, which authorities say is the largest amount of Spain-bound cocaine ever intercepted, officials arrested 13 people from the two countries.
Although the operation is a victory for Venezuela’s fight against crime, it comes at a time when the international community is viewing the country’s anti-drug operations with increasing suspicion. According to the United Nations 2011 World Drug Report, over half of all seized Europe-bound cocaine shipments from 2006 to 2008 came through Venezuela, making the country a major transit hub for the drug.
While the illegal narcotics trade has operated in Venezuela for decades, it is believed that the problem worsened after the 2002 coup attempt that nearly removed Chavez from office. Because he suspected the U.S. of supporting the opposition, the relationship between the president and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) began to sour, culminating in his 2005 refusal to admit the agency into the country.
As a result, drug traffickers began to see Venezuela as a good transit point for cocaine flights from Colombia, offering drug-laden airplanes a chance to fly mostly undetected to Venezuela's northern coast. From there, the product is shipped northward or to Europe and West Africa.
This phenomenon has been accompanied by a surge in other violent crimes in Venezuela. As of February, the official murder rate in the country was at 47 per 100,000 people, a figure far higher than that of both Mexico and Colombia, making Venezuela one of the most violent countries in the world.
As InSight Crime has reported, Venezuela’s booming drug trafficking industry has been repeatedly linked to elements in the country’s military, especially among units stationed along the border with Colombia. In 2007, rumors surfaced that a drug trafficking organization comprised of members of the armed forces was emerging in the country. The group has been referred to as the "Cartel of the Suns," named after the gold stars that Venezuelan generals wear on their uniforms.
Friday, 8 July 2011
Spanish police intercepted in Venezuela more than 7 tons of cocaine hidden in a consignment of machinery bound for Spain, authorities said Thursday.
Thirteen people were arrested, five of them in Spain and eight in Venezuela, during the operation, which allowed authorities to break up major drug trafficking organizations.
During the operation, which was coordinated with Venezuelan security forces, police conducted eight raids in Spain, one of them against a heavy machinery company through which the network laundered the money it obtained from drug trafficking.
The ringleaders were Spaniards and lived in Madrid.
The network intended to introduce the drugs through the northern Spanish port of Bilbao hidden beneath the floorboards of construction machinery.
The investigation into the illegal activities began in February, when police learned that one of the men arrested, identified only by the initials L.M.J., was preparing to ship heavy construction machinery from Spain to Venezuela.
The intention, investigators said, was to pack the machinery with cocaine and return it to Spain later on cargo ships.
The shipment of the machinery to a Venezuelan company had been carried out by a Madrid firm headed by L.M.J. and a relative.
Thanks to information from Venezuelan authorities about the type of machinery and the receiving companies, security forces were able to seize 6,700 kilos (14,757 pounds) of cocaine hidden in the machinery ready to be shipped back to Spain.
Searches of Madrid properties belonging to L.M.J. and his associates led to the seizure of 30 luxury vehicles, more than 100,000 euros ($143,690) in cash, fake pistols, jewelry and watches and a large number of documents.
The suspects also had bank accounts holding millions of euros.
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Dutch man arrested in Benidorm as cocaine yacht intercepted in the Caribbean
A yacht bound for Europe with a cargo of more than one ton of cocaine on board has been intercepted by the French Customs Authority off the island of Saint Martin, in the Caribbean. It had set sail from Isla Blanquilla on June 30, and it’s understood that the organiser of the cargo was a Dutch national resident in Spain, who is known to have been in Isla Margarita last month.
He was arrested in Benidorm as he was attempting to flee the country. Police seized three top range vehicles and 61,000 € in cash when they searched the three properties he owns on the Spanish coast.
The yacht’s two German crew were taken into custody, plus another member of the organisation who was located on Saint Martin.
The operation involved officers from police in Germany, Spain’s National Police, the French Customs and Interpol. The Interior Ministry said in a press release on Thursday that the total weight of the cocaine found on board the yacht was 1.127 tons.
Priceless 12-century manuscript, which contains Europe's first travel guide, went missing from a safe in Spanish cathedral
A hugely valuable illuminated manuscript has disappeared from the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, say police.
The Codex Calixtinus dates from the 12th Century and was compiled as a guidebook for medieval pilgrims following the Way of Saint James.
This is the oldest copy of the manuscript and is unsaleable on the open market.
Only a handful of people had access to the room in which it was kept.
This edition of the Codex Calixtinus is thought to date from around 1150.
Its purpose was largely practical - to collect advice of use to pilgrims heading to the shrine there. It also included sermons and homilies to St James.
On Wednesday afternoon, the book was reported missing from the room where it is kept.
"We are investigating its disappearance," a police spokeswoman said, according to AFP news agency.
"It is usually kept in a room to which only half a dozen people have access," she said.
The Codex is only brought out on special occasions, such as last year's visit of Pope Benedict, when it is closely guarded.
If the work has been stolen, it will be impossible to sell it on the open market, says the BBC's arts reporter Vincent Dowd.
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Drunken Brit had climbed into Spanish couples bed during the night at an apartment complex on Ibiza
32 year old British tourist, named with the initials G.S.O. was arrested over the weekend after climbing into the bed of a Spanish tourist couple in an apartment complex in Viver, Ibiza
.The man is reported to have been drunk, or on drugs at the time, and it is a mystery how he managed to gain access to the apartment complex without being seen by the guards, as he was not even a guest there.
The first the Spanish couple heard about it was when they all woke up at the same time, when the British man started shouting swearing ‘F***, F***’. The couple advised reception and the police arrested the Briton who spent Saturday night in the cells.
On Sunday he went before the court where the prosecutor said he wanted to demand a six month prison sentence and the payment of 1,000 € compensation for the couple. The prosecutor said that the man could avoid prison until the case comes to court, by paying the compensation to the couple.
German woman arrested for murder in Dénia last year
German woman, un-named in reports, has been arrested in connection with the murder of a 34 year old woman from Colombia who was found dead outside her home in Dénia in April last year. The suspect is accused of hiring a hit man to kill the victim, who EFE reports was her husband’s lover.
It’s understood that the hit man worked with the suspect’s husband in an extortion network which had targeted at least a dozen victims. Money laundering and weapons trafficking are also under investigation.
Six suspects have now been arrested in connection with the murder and the extortion network which was uncovered during the course of the investigation. None of their identities have been released, as the case remains governed by secrecy, but it is known that another two are from Germany and three from Poland.
The National Police Violent and Organised Crime Unit has frozen 15 bank accounts and searched nine addresses in the case. They have also seized six top range vehicles, 15,000 € in cash, gold coins and silver ingots, and a large amount of ammunition.
The Guardia Civil have arrested four British tourists aged 19 and 20 in connection with the rape of a 19 year old British girl
The Guardia Civil 
have arrested four British tourists aged 19 and 20 in connection with the rape of a 19 year old British girl in the hotel room where they were staying in Magaluf.The agents from Palmanova consider the four arrested took part in the rape and they all now face a charge of sexual aggression, although two of them are considered as the main perpetrators.
The four were taken on Tuesday morning to the courts in Vía Alemania to give their statements. They all said that they were very drunk and one of them said that consensual sex took place with the girl.
The girl also said that she had been drinking.
The judge in Instruction Court 7 in Palma, who was on duty, released them with charges outstanding at 2pm after listening to their accounts.
The girl had complained to the Guardia Civil on Monday that she had been raped in a hotel room in the early hours. She said that she went to the room of one of the men for consensual sex, but once there another man appeared and they both forced themselves on her. She has received health service assistance and has been examined in Palma Hospital.
The four arrested Britons are staying in the room where the alleged rape took place.
Diario de Mallorca reports that the victim and one of the four men had met on the beach at the weekend.
Almería operation uncovered an armed group which specialised in stealing cannabis from drug smugglers
Two Civil Guard operations in Almería have broken up two drugs gangs, one which smuggled large amounts of cannabis into Spain from North Africa, and another which specialised in stealing consignments of drugs which had been brought into the country by other gangs.
It’s understood from EFE that one of the members of the second group dressed in a Civil Guard uniform during the armed assaults.
The investigation began after the owner of a farm in Vícar was reported missing at the end of February, and his disappearance was found to be linked to the theft of a consignment of cannabis which had been hidden on the farm. The missing man was finally located two weeks later.
10 people have been arrested and one and a half tons of cannabis have been recovered.
On the Costa Tropical, another ton of cannabis has been recovered from the coast off Motril. The first of the 27 packages were discovered by a man who was fishing from the shore in Torrenueva on Tuesday, and there were another three finds along the coast over the day.
The Civil Guard said the packages were thrown overboard from a boat which had sped out to sea to escape a patrol boat earlier on Tuesday.
Unraveling the web of Spain's sweatshops
They wear football jerseys, T-shirts, jeans and sneakers. They look like ordinary customers having a beer at the corner pub but that ability to blend in is also key to their role in the fight against human trafficking.
They are the men and women of an elite human trafficking unit in Spain's Catalonia region and they have to get key players in criminal gangs to trust them.
The region is a hot spot for traffickers. Barcelona - its biggest city and one of Europe's marquee tourist destinations - provides a cloak for traffickers who bring victims in on tourist visas.
Large-scale criminal organizations from Eastern Europe, Africa and China are setting up shop - bringing people into Spain under the guise of giving them jobs, then keeping their passports and forcing them to work in nightmarish conditions, either in prostitution or labor exploitation. (Read more about Spain's hot spot for human trafficking)
It has kept the Mossos d'Esquadra undercover unit, which is formally called the Central Unit Against Trafficking of Human Beings, very busy.
Sub-Inspector Xavier Cortes helped form the unit in 2007, and he says taking on the massive criminal organizations is a complex mission.
"Research techniques are different than a regular criminal investigation, such as the solving of a robbery," says Cortes, the ranking officer in the unit who doesn't work undercover and is comfortable with CNN revealing his identity.
"To investigate criminal organizations, what one cannot do is solve the crime. You have to locate and dismantle the organization... You get to know who the members are, how they live, how they interact, and how the organization is organized. Where the money comes from and where it goes - all this from many, many hours of analysis and operative work."
Another challenge, Cortes says, is infiltrating the groups to learn more about them.
"Considering in the vast majority of cases, the criminal organizations doing the trafficking of people that operate in Catalonia are organizations from foreign countries, it is almost impossible to get agents to infiltrate them."
That's where the use of informants comes in handy. The unit's biggest bust - a Chinese forced labor case involving 80 alleged sweatshops - came from two men who were fed up with their working environment and decided to come forward. One had been stabbed in the hand as he tried to collect evidence.
What started with a complaint by two men ended in a case so vast, it took three years to unravel the massive, tangled web of exploitation, and is only now going before the Spanish courts.
Saturday, 2 July 2011
Arrest order issued for Chairman of SGAE performing rights organisation
The Guardia Civil has been acting on an arrest order for Teddy Bautista, today Friday. He’s the President of the performing rights and copyright organisation, SGAE, and agents have also been searching the Madrid offices in an investigation into allegations of the diversion of funds and misappropriation.
The Guardia Civil have confirmed they have arrested Bautista and eight others on charges of corruption.
A search of the offices has also been carried out as the investigation indicates that a parallel business structure had been established to which funds from the institution were diverted.
Reports indicate that the operation which was ordered by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, has been two years in the planning.
The partners of the SGAE have issued a statement meanwhile backing the management of Bautista, re-electing the team in recent voting, and taking their mandate to 2015.
The story quickly became a trending topic on Twitter in Spain, with the SGAE one of the least popular organisations, following cases of them trying to charge for music at many charity events, and their fight against music downloads.
Lawyer, Josep Jover, has said that 400 million € has vanished from the SGAE, and the Ministry for Culture has simply looked the other way.
Irishman faces 18 years for shooting Briton in Mijas
The Málaga Provincial Prosecutor has called for an 18 year prison sentence for a 27 year old Irishman, Eric W. who is accused of shooting a 24 year old Briton, Daniel J. Smith, dead with whom he previously had an argument over a woman in June last year. He also wants the Irishmen to meet the costs and civil responsibility calculated at 45,793 €.
It happened on the terrace of a bar in the Riviera del Sol Urbanisation in Mijas Costa, and the prosecutor alleges that Daniel J.S. returned to the scene with the intention of killing the Briton, taking out a nine mm pistol and firing twice as his victim was trying to get out of his chair. The Briton fell onto the floor and was shot again repeatedly at close range, according to the prosecutor whose view has been printed in the La Opinión de Málaga newspaper.
Daniel J.S. suffered as many as 11 gunshots, two in the jaw, two in the back, one in the buttocks, three in the forearm, two in the scrotum and the last one in the thigh. He died shortly after as one of the shots had punctured his right lung.
The victim was not married and his mother Karen is demanding 300,000 € compensation.
The accused was arrested some days later in Coín, and although the gun was not found the Guardia Civil did find hand grenades and plastic explosives.
The case gets underway before a jury in the Provincial Court in Málaga on July 11. Under Spanish law it is not necessary to prove a motive to find someone guilty of an assassination.
Police have found a body inside a block of cement inside a cybercafé in the Delicias district of Zaragoza.
The premises have been closed for some time, and the alarm was raised by the bad smell which was noticed by neighbours.
The Guardia Civil say the body is of a male of an indeterminate age. The first parts were found on Friday evening at 5pm, and work to extract the victim took all the day.
The judge visited the scene and introduced reporting restrictions in the case, as the body has been taken to the Legal Medicine Institute for identification.
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