New Chinese drug found in Madrid

National Police have arrested 67 Chinese in a network Madrid which were distributing a new drug ‘Kai Xin Guo’. The drug’s name translates to ‘happy fruit’ or ‘happy state’. The network operated in brothels and karaokes in the Chinese community. Many of those arrested live in the Parla or Leganés areas of the capital. The methamphetamine ’Ice’ and adulterated ketamine, ‘Kin’ are other drugs which are popular with Chinese residents in Spain. Nearly 2% of drivers who were killed in traffic accidents in 2011 had take ketamine. The group were introducing and distributing the drug in small quantities to as not to attract the attention of the Police. The Police say they did not detect the new drug in Spain until last year when the first quantities were found.

Peter O’Toole, known locally as Cara de Niño - ‘Babyface’, not guilty of trying to kill a tourist in February 2002.

The Málaga Provincial Court has found the Briton, Peter O’Toole, known locally as Cara de Niño - ‘Babyface’, not guilty of trying to kill a tourist in February 2002.

The case was held in high security, but the court finally considered that there was not enough evidence to prove that O’Toole fired the gun on the terrace of Looney’s Irish Pub in Benalmádena. The victim is now quadriplegic.

The case was based on a single witness but he declared in court that he could not identify O’Toole as the aggressor.
Curiously all the other witnesses to the shooting have since died or are in whereabouts unknown.

The Court notes that O’Toole himself did not any ‘convincing’ version in his defence. He admitted he had been in the bar, and did not explain why he left Spain the next day.

But the sentence says there is not enough evidence against him and a description of the attacker given by the bar owner was not a good match to O’Toole.

‘Baby Face’ is currently serving life imprisonment for two attacks in the UK, one victim was killed and a second survived.

Gangs of highway robbers are targeting British tourists on holiday in Spain.

Hundreds of visitors in British-registered vehicles or hire cars have had their possessions, passports and money taken in ‘quick and slick’ distraction muggings.

The thieves typically trick their victims with loud noises, apparent accidents, supposed vehicle problems or pleas for help – before stealing bags and belongings from their vehicles. 

Thieves: Hundreds of visitors in British-registered vehicles or hire cars have had their possessions, passports and money taken in 'quick and slick' distraction muggings

As millions of families begin their summer breaks, the Foreign Office has warned British-registered cars are ‘an easy target’ for motorway thieves. 

The number of British tourists ambushed on Spanish roads has soared as the euro crisis has deepened, with the British Embassy in Madrid reporting a 10 per cent rise in the first quarter of this year.

 This is likely to increase further as the peak holiday season begins. 

A spokesman for the embassy said:  ‘Motorists may be driving along the motorway and not notice there’s a car close up behind. 

‘Someone in the other car throws a stone at their vehicle which creates a loud bang. The British drivers pull over to see what has happened and the gang is behind them. 

‘They cause a distraction to steal from them or simply mug them. It’s a growing problem.’

Warning: As millions of families begin their summer breaks, the Foreign Office has warned British-registered cars are ¿an easy target¿ for motorway thieves

A hotspot for the gangs is the AP7 motorway between the French border and the Alicante region in southern Spain. 

More than 140 cases of theft on this route were reported to British Consulates last year. 

However, a spokesman said there were likely to be ‘hundreds more’ attacks going unreported across Spain because victims usually contact a British consulate only if they have lost their passport. 

Dave Thomas, consular regional director for Spain, said: ‘Be on your guard against anyone who attempts to stop you or ask you for help.

‘They may well be part of a  gang operating a scam in which an unseen accomplice will rob you of your things.’ 

Stephen and Helen Robinson, from Desford, Leicestershire, had their bags stolen from their Audi Q5 as they stopped to walk their labrador retriever Polly at a service station between Barcelona and Valencia. 

The couple, who are in their 50s, were standing at the boot of their car when a man on a mobile phone asked them how to say something in English. 

While he distracted them, their belongings were taken from the front of the car, despite Polly being inside. 

Mrs Robinson said: ‘It was quick and slick. You may be more tired and therefore more vulnerable when you’ve been travelling, so separate your valuables into different places in the car, and when you stop be aware you may be being watched. You won’t see the accomplice of the person who is distracting you.’ 

In a separate incident, Joy and Alan Horton, from Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, were driving a Ford Focus hatchback through Spain when they heard a loud bang and pulled over.

A car that had been travelling close behind them also stopped, and while the driver talked to them, his accomplice stole their possessions without them noticing.

Mr Horton said: ‘If you think your car may have been in a collision and you pull over, lock the car as soon as you get out and mount a guard on both sides of the vehicle. Keep all bags and valuables in a locked boot.’ 

Professor Stephen Glaister, of the RAC Foundation, said: ‘Drivers need to remember to stay alert and be ready for unwelcome surprises just as they would be at home.’

The biggest fines in British maritime history were handed down to a group of Spanish fishermen on Thursday, for illegal fishing in UK waters.

 Photograph: Robert Ghement/EPA

Some of the biggest fines in British maritime history were handed down to a group of Spanish fishermen on Thursday, for illegal fishing in UK waters.

Two companies owned by the Vidal family were fined £1.62m in total in a Truro court, after a two-day hearing, in which details emerged of falsified log books, failing to register the transfer of fish between vessels, false readings given for weighing fish at sea, and fiddling of fishing quotas.

Judge Graham Cottle said the family were guilty of "wholesale falsification of official documentation" that amounted to a "systematic, repeated and cynical abuse of the EU fishing quota system over a period of 18 months".

He said: "[This was a] flagrant, repeated and long term abuse of regulations. The fish targeted [hake] was at that time a species of fish on the verge if collapse and adherence to quotas was seen as crucial to the survival of the species."

The Spanish fishing vessels had been sailing under UK flags and were landing fish based on quotas given to British fishermen under the EU's common fisheries policy. Two vessels were involved, but the companies own several other large vessels, capable of industrial-scale fishing.

The offending fishermen, who admitted their guilt earlier this year, were not in court to hear him, having been given leave to return to Spain last night. The offences, dating from 2009 and 2010, relate to two companies, Hijos De Vidal Bandin SA and Sealskill Limited, both owned by the Vidal family. They were fined £925,000 on a confiscation order, plus £195,000 in costs, and an additional fine of £250,000 levied on each of the two companies. Two skippers who were acting under the family's instructions were fined £5,000 each.

Ariana Densham, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace, who was present for the trial and judgement, said that the fines, while welcome, did not go far enough. "This group of people should never be allowed near UK fishing quota again," she said. "The Vidal's right to fish should be removed completely."

She said the offences showed the vulnerability of the EU's fishing quota system to fraud. "The system that allowed this to happen needs to be fixed," she said. "This case is not a one off. It's a symptom of Europe's farcical fishing rules. The Vidals were permitted to fish under UK flags, using UK quota, and receive huge EU subsidies, with none of the proceeds ever feeding back into the UK economy. The system is skewed in favour of rich, powerful, industrial-scale fishing companies, when really it should be supporting low-impact, sustainable fishermen."

There are currently moves under way in Brussels by the fisheries commissioner, Maria Damanaki, to reform the EU's common fisheries policy. The proposed reforms – which include the ending of the wasteful practice of discarding healthy and edible fish at sea – have met stiff opposition, particularly from the French and Spanish fishing industries. Spain has the biggest fishing fleet in Europe and receives the lion's share of the subsidies available for fishing within the EU. A historic agreement was reached among member states last month on the proposals, but they must now pass the European parliament, which is expected to consider the proposals later this year.

British woman raped by two men on Ibiza

A British tourist has denounced that has been raped by two men. According to her account, which has not been confirmed by official sources, on Saturday night she and her friends decided to go out in Platja d’en Bossa in Ibiza. She did not accompany then but decided to go later so she called a taxi. She says that at this moment two men came up and forced her into a car, took her to waste ground and raped her. Afterwards they left her by some rubbish containers. A family saw and escorted her to the Guardia Civil barracks, where she made her complaint. She says the two men have been detained, but this has not been confirmed.

Hashish runners arrested in Málaga and Cádiz

16 people have been arrested by the gang which used false bottoms in the hull of their ships.The false bottom in the hull  A network which introduced large quantities of Moroccan Hashish via Cádiz and Málaga, has been broken up by the National Police. The traffickers hid the hashish in boats with a double bottom in the hull. This helped them to escape air controls. There are 16 people detained and 1,040 kilos of drug has been impounded. Several transport companies were controlled by the gang who supplied the pilots of the launches and the infrastructure needed for the collection and storage of the merchandise. The head of the group lived in Algeciras.

Car thief speeds off with baby in back seat

A ONE-year-old child was snatched from his mother after a car thief drove off with the sleeping youngster in a back seat. The incident happened in a Spanish holiday town Benalmadena in the Costa del Sol as the Irish woman was loading her shopping into the boot of her 4X4. As she was putting the shopping into the boot, a man jumped into the front seat and sped off through the town. However, a witness immediately rang the emergency services who set off in pursuit. The chase ended when the man drove into a cul-de-sac and was cornered. The child was returned to his distraught mother safe and well. The incident occurred at around 5pm on Saturday as the unnamed expat put her shopping into the boot of her Audi Q7 in the supermarket car park. She had put her little son into his car seat and is thought to have left the key in the ignition and the engine running so the air conditioning would kick in. The opportunist thief, a 21-year-old Romanian who was being quizzed by police yesterday, jumped into the vehicle and sped off. It was not clear if he knew a child was in the back when he took off. A police source said: "Fortunately the youngster was unharmed. "We reunited him with his mum, who was understandably in a state of total and utter panic. "It must have been a terrifying experience for her but luckily one with a happy ending." The suspect is expected to be handed over to an investigating magistrate shortly. The incident was the second of its kind in a week in the area. Last Monday a man attempted to seize a woman's car as she sat at traffic lights in Malaga with her child in the back. Two people in a nearby van jumped out and held the would-be robber until police arrived.

Two Marbella Local Police arrested for drug trafficking

Two Local Police have been arrested in Marbella in an operation against drug trafficking. The National Police operation also at least two other people who were also arrested, and there could be a third. The arrests took place on Monday morning, and the local policemen are to be indicted on charges of bribery, drug trafficking, perversion of the course of justice and omission of their obligation to chase crimes. There are no more details at present of the operation which was carried out by the specialist GRECO unit, and reporting restrictions have been introduced in the case.

35 year old British man who is accused of shooting another Briton in a bar in Benalmádena in the back of the neck

A 35 year old British man who is accused of shooting another Briton in a bar in Benalmádena in the back of the neck, has denied the accusation. The Briton is accused of shooting the other man on a terrace in Benalmádena and faces a charge of attempted murder and the prosecutor has initially requested 14 years in prison. The oral case started yesterday, Wednesday, amid high security given that the accused has a penal record in Britain where he will return when this case is closed. The shooting happened in February 2002, and according to the initial statement from the prosecutor the accused surprised his victim, who was sitting on the bar terrace, from behind, and fired a single shot into the neck with an unidentified weapon. The victim suffered a serious long lasting wound. The accused claims that he was in the bathroom when he heard shots, and thought they were after him, so he fled, indicating he left Spain. The bar owned did not recognise the accused in court yesterday.

British driver arrested for doing 221km/h in Burgos

Agents from the Guardia Civil Traffic Group have today arrested a British couple who were driving in their Audi 4 on the A-1 at the 160km point near Aranda de Duero in Burgos at 221 km/h. The Government Sub delegation in Burgos says the 32 year old driver was accompanied by a 26 year old woman, and was clocked at 221km/h on the 120km/h road. The driver now faces charges as the alleged author of a crime against Road Safety before the Instruction Court in Aranda de Duero.

30 people in 15 Spanish provinces have been arrested for defrauding 120 million € in the sale of fuel.

 In addition 23 searches have been carried out in homes and businesses which have recovered assets of 55 million €.

Up to now 79 top of the range vehicles, 209 properties and 20 million € have all been impounded, along with 3.5 million litres of fuel.
Two organisations were broken up by the Guardia Civil and the Agencia Tributaria. 

They purchased a large amount of diesel and petrol, avoiding the payment of IVA/VAT, which allowed them to lower their prices without competition.

They had contacts in European and Arab countries and to gain confidence from the client, presented themselves with people of prestige from the sector.

They had links to Germany, Britain, Pakistan, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, and Panama, and it has been estimated that the volume of business detected in bank accounts linked to these criminal organisations is over a billion €.

The National Fraud Investing Office, (ONIF) coordinated the operation which was called ‘Bashnya’ and started in February last year.

The Police have broken up a gang of drug traffickers on the Costa del Sol.

Five arrests have been made and 1,600 kilos of hashish impounded in an operation called ‘Sarco’.

Although the five, aged between 32 and 67, were based on the Costa del Sol they often changed their address to avoid being localised.
The operation remains open, as police analyse documents taken and a 9mm pistol which was loaded. 

The investigation started at the end of last year when the police became aware of the group and started to indentify its members.

The gang of several nationalities moved the drugs from Spain to Holland, Great Britain and Ireland, according to a Ministry of the Interior statement on Saturday.

If you want to make a complaint you have to speak Spanish

A cut in the number of interpreters means that non-Spanish speakers are now unable to place a denuncia or make a complaint in most of the Police Stations on the Costa de Sol. El Mundo says that the National Police are telling foreign callers, ‘I’m sorry, sir, with these cuts I cannot say anything else. We cannot help you unless you bring an interpreter’. The paper claims people are being turned away even if they want to report a robbery or aggression, and that it is same trying to so in person or over the phone. An interpreter company was taken on last May to give a national phone service, but this has gone bankrupt. Tourist bosses have been putting forward ideas to solve the problem which they say is damaging the tourist image which it says is returning to previous times. One of them is to use language students as partners. Thankfully, when a tourist is robbed now they usually go to their hotel receptionist who can organise someone to go with them to the police. Twenty years or so ago, that was quite a common sight and it’s becoming so once again. Under Spanish Law, State Security Forces have now requirement to speak a second language.

Juan Antono Roca's lawyer tells the court he is innocent

The defence lawyer for Juan Antonio Roca, the man at the centre of the Malaya corruption case based in Marbella Town Hall, which is continuing in Málaga, has said, ‘Roca obtained indecent profits, but legal ones’. Rocio Amigo went on to say that Roca purchased and sold, and sometimes he obtained a grand profit, and other profits were indecent, but always legal. The lawyer was speaking in her final report before the court. She called for Roca to be absolved, describing his curriculum as that of ‘a successful businessman’ who had made his first inversion in real estate before he was 30. Amigo insisted that real estate speculation may be amoral, but it is legal. She said Roca had a good wage and 20 fully-functioning companies in 1996, which generated millionaire profits. She went on to attack the first instruction judge in the case, Miguel Ángel Torres, for what she considered were unfounded presumptions. During the investigation she also criticised the police investigation, noting they tapped Roca’s phone without a judicial order.

ETA member arrested in Edinburgh

ETA member, Beñat Atorrasagasti Ordóñez, has been arrested in Scotland. There has been a search and capture order against him since 2001. He was in two ETA units, one which got people over the French-Spanish border, and he also help in ETA’s falsification group. He was in Scotland as part of a reserve group, but he was operative. The Guardia Civil and the police in Scotland jointly took part in the arrest. The Ministry of the Interior says he was arrested at 10pm on Friday in Edinburgh.

Man sets fire to house with his ex and four children inside

The Guardia Civil has arrested a man in Torre Pacheco, Murcia, after he set fire to a house with his ex girlfriend, her new boyfriend and the arsonist's four children inside. He had a distancing order from his ex partner. The family were resting when the fire broke out at 2.17am today, Friday. The 34 year old woman and mother of the four children is receiving psychological help at a domestic violence victims’ centre in Torre Pacheco. The arrested man has been named with the initials K.A.V.M. and is Ecuadorian. He has a record for similar earlier events, according to a Guardia Civil statement, and is accused of crimes of attempted murder; escape from prison, and against collective safety. He will be put before the Instruction Court 5 in San Javier on Saturday.

Gang of five drug traffickers arrested on the Costa del sol

The Police have broken up a gang of drug traffickers on the Costa del Sol. Five arrests have been made and 1,600 kilos of hashish impounded in an operation called ‘Sarco’. Although the five, aged between 32 and 67, were based on the Costa del Sol they often changed their address to avoid being localised. The operation remains open, as police analyse documents taken and a 9mm pistol which was loaded. The investigated started at the end of last year when the police became aware of the group and started to indentify its members. The gang of several nationalities moved the drugs from Spain to Holland, Great Britain and Ireland, according to a Ministry of the Interior statement on Saturday.

840 kilos found on a boat off the Marbella coast

840 kilos of hashish has been intercepted on a boat off the coast of Marbella. The drug was in 27 bales hidden between the cabin and different parts of the leisure craft. Agents from the National Police and Agencia Tributaria intercepted the craft after an investigation which started last December when a group of Spanish citizens were detected on the Costa del Sol, dedicated to bringing drugs in via the sea, using all types of boat including fishing boats and yachts. The gang transferred the drugs on the high seas and brought it to shore in different parts of the Málaga coastline, according to a statement from the National Police. At the beginning of the year the group tried to acquire a powerful boat with high top speeds from La Linea, but the illicit operation failed after the boat was stopped two days after the sale for not having a licence.

Four arrested in Estepona marihuana haul

Agents from the National Police have today seized more than 6,000 marijuana plants in two luxury villas in Estepona on the Costa del Sol. Four arrests have been made, two Spaniards from Málaga and two Bulgarians The only surfaces or shelves where there were no plants placed, was the kitchen where the drug was stored and packed. First investigations led to them to the home of one of those arrested and the police observed how, over several days, four men arrived in the morning and left late at night, when all of their clothes were dirty as if they had been working in the campo. Both villas had all the latest equipment to grow the plants including piping, water tanks, and special illumination. Agents recovered 6,411 plants, about 31 kilos of marijuana already prepared for consumption and 1,445 € in cash. The UDYCO Costa del Sol specialist groups from Estepona and Marbella had taken part in the investigation.

Suspect in UK murder of Chinese family 'held in Morocco'

Police in Morocco have arrested a man they think is the prime suspect for the murders of a Chinese family of four in Britain more than a year ago, British police said Sunday. A man believed to be Anxiang Du was arrested Saturday in Tangiers over the killing of university lecturer Jifeng Ding, 46, his wife Helen Chui, 47, and their daughters Xing, 18, and Alice, 12. The four were stabbed to death at their home in Northampton on April 29, 2011. "Detectives hunting for Anxiang Du have been informed by Moroccan law enforcement authorities that a man they strongly believe to be the suspect has been arrested," a Northamptonshire police spokesman said, adding that they would lodge a formal extradition application with the Home Office. Moroccan authorities were not immediately available for comment. Du, 53, a former business associate of the family who lived in Coventry, central England, was named as the only suspect in the case shortly after the bodies were discovered. But police had been unable to trace the man since he disappeared on the day of the murders, despite interviewing more than 2,000 people and viewing more than 5,000 hours of video surveillance footage. Officers had travelled to Chinese communities across Britain and to eastern China's Zhejiang Province in their efforts to find Du, who had been locked in a legal dispute with the Ding family. Ding worked in the chemistry and environmental sciences division at Manchester Metropolitan University, while his wife taught Mandarin part-time at a local business school. In April, British police investigating the case arrested four people on suspicion of conspiracy to assist an offender, but all were released on bail pending further enquiries.

A group of British tourists out celebrating Spain’s Euro 2012 victory in Magaluf, were mowed down by a Range Rover in a hit and run.

A video posted on YouTube shows the vehicle bouncing over the men as they partied among a crowd of revellers in the party town in the early hours of Monday.

The clip shows the car’s front and back tyres running over Joe Worsnop, 20, who was on holiday with a group of 15 friends.

Worsnop had to make an emergency flight home to Bradford, where was treated in hospital for infections to his wound, the Daily Mail reports.

His twin brother James spent two days in hospital abroad with a deep cut to his back.

Witness, Glyn Hirst said: “This car just came up and mowed people down. The driver got impatient. I felt sick, I couldn't look at first but then I had to go and find my mates.

“The car ran about five people over then stopped for a few seconds. I saw a guy in front of it put his hands on the bonnet but the driver just kept going and went over him and the other guy was still under his tyres.”

Police have arrested a 37-year-old Spanish man in connection with the incident.

 

 

British man arrested as Europe's largest marihuna plantation is found in Alicante

What is described as the largest illegal marihuana plantation in Europe has been found in Lliber, Alicante. It consists of 16 plastic greenhouses, with sophisticated drop water systems, containing some 10,000 plants. Odour absorbing systems had also been installed Two people, a 45 year old Briton and an 18 year old Spaniard have been arrested for being responsible for the plantation and they have been charged with a crime against public health. One of them has imprisoned. Agents also impounded 43 kilos of vacuum packed marihuana, prepared in 500 gram packets, and a British registered van with a false bottom used to transport the drug, it’s thought mostly to Holland and Belgium. The operation started after it became known that the 16 greenhouses had been installed in a finca, and that a licence for them had been denied by Lliber Town Hall. The operation was directed by the Anti-drug prosecutor in Alicante and the Instruction Court 1 in Denia. The Guardia Civil say they do not rule out new arrests, noting that there is luxury villa on the land where the greenhouses are located, and inside they have found numerous mobile phones and a great deal of computer equipment which could give new leads.

medieval text stolen from the cathedral in the north-western Spanish town of Santiago de Compostela was found in a nearby garage on Wednesday after police arrested a handyman

The Codex Calixtinus was stolen last year from a safe deposit box in the Santiago de Compostela cathedral. Photograph: Xurxo Lobato/Getty Images

A medieval text stolen from the cathedral in the north-western Spanish town of Santiago de Compostela was found in a nearby garage on Wednesday after police arrested a handyman – fired after 25 years working at the cathedral – and three others.

The Codex Calixtinus, a 12th-century collection of sermons and liturgical passages, vanished last July from a safe deposit box in the cathedral, which marks the end of an ancient pilgrimage route, the Camino de Santiago.

Police said they had found the elaborately illustrated manuscript – a treasured part of Spain's cultural and religious heritage – in a garage near the Galician town.

The cathedral is the reputed burial place of St James the Greater, one of Jesus's 12 apostles, who, tradition has it, went to Spain to preach Christianity.

The codex tells the story of how the apostle's remains were transferred to Santiago de Compostela and details the various routes to the town – effectively a guide for early pilgrims.

Earlier, dawn raids on properties connected to the detained former church handyman, his wife, son and another woman had led police to the discovery of at least €1.2m (£950,000), eight copies of the codex and other ancient books that had also been stolen from the cathedral.

Officers also found documents and correspondence related to senior church figures and keys to various outbuildings. The cathedral's book of hours, a popular type of devotional book in the Middle Ages, was also recovered.

The main suspect, whom police have not named, is a man who was sacked after working for the cathedral as a freelance handyman and electrician for more than 25 years, police said in a statement.

He was made redundant after faking a work contract to make it look like he had a permanent job, and claimed he was owed €40,000 for unfair dismissal.

Mother who murdered her two children in Spanish hotel sentenced to 30 years

A woman who admitted smothering her 11-month-old son and five-year-old daughter in a Spanish hotel room has been jailed for 30 years. Lianne Smith claimed she murdered her son, Daniel, and daughter, Rebecca, with a plastic bag in her room at the Miramar Hotel in Lloret de Mar, Costa Brava, in 2010, because she feared they would be taken away after her partner, Martin Smith, was arrested on sex offence charges. The family had been living in Spain since 2007 after fleeing Lichfield, Staffordshire, when Smith's eldest daughter by her first husband accused Martin Smith of sexually abusing her. Martin Smith, originally from North Shields, had been a singer working in North-east clubs before working as a TV psychic. Lianne Smith was living in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, and going through a divorce from her first husband when she met him through a dating agency in October 1992. Previously the couple lived together in a caravan in Northumberland, with Lianne's two children from her previous marriage. Later they moved to Cumbria, where Lianne worked as a manager at Cumbria County Council's children's services department. The murders took place shortly after Martin Smith had been arrested in Barcelona by Spanish police acting on a European warrant. Lianne Smith, 45, thought British social services had travelled to Spain to take her children away from her. During the trial jurors heard how Smith had made several failed suicide attempts after the killings. These included cutting herself with razors, covering her head with a plastic bag, attempting to hang herself and trying to drown herself in the bath. She left four notes and an envelope containing money for the hotel bills before the suicide attempts. "I love you very much. I haven't been able to give you a marvellous life together. I am so sorry," read one of the notes, addressed to her two children. The next day she walked into the hotel reception and asked police for an ambulance to be called. She led an officer into her room and pointed to a bed where the dead children lay covered by sheets, and confessed to the murders. Last month, jurors at a provincial court in north-east Spain decided that Smith was criminally responsible for her children's deaths, despite her defence lawyers' pleas that she had been in a state of "psychiatric disturbance" at the time. "This was the end of the road. I knew my children would be taken back to England," Smith told Spanish officers in a video interview that was showed to jurors. She added: "I felt I was in a corner and my intention was for me and my children to go. It was not just the children, it was me as well." In December 2010, her partner Martin Smith was found guilty at Manchester Crown Court of using hypnotism, bullying and violence to groom and sexually abuse Smith's eldest daughter, Sarah Richardson, who has waived her right to anonymity. He was found hanged in his cell at Strangeways Prison in Manchester in January. Despite prosecutors seeking a jail term of 34 years, Smith was sentenced to serve 30 years behind bars yesterday – a 15-year sentence for each of the murders. Judge Adolfo Garcia Morales said he was imposing the minimum sentence for murder because he considered that, although responsible for her actions, Smith was suffering a degree of "mental disturbance" when she committed the crimes. "The jury stressed that this mental disturbance was not as important as the defence had argued," he said in a written sentence. It read: "This was based on facts such as several suicide attempts made by Smith, a statement she gave during which she appeared normal and did not make any significant mistakes as she described what had happened and how it happened, the composition of several coherent notes, and the calculations that she made in order to pay what she believed she still owed to the hotel."