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Septic shocker A FAMILY of Brits have had their holiday ‘ruined’ after a young girl fell into a septic tank at a ‘death trap’ villa in Alicante. The group of 14 arrived at the Villa L’Arc in Moraira - after forking out almost €7,000 - only to find ‘loose hanging handrails’ over a six metre drop and a ‘loose manhole’ covering up the fetid tank. It was here Steven Wright, from Surrey, told the Olive Press his 15-year-old niece fell ‘up to her waist’ into the filthy water. “She came out screaming,” Wright, 57, said. “But if she’d been any younger she could have died in a dark concrete tank of dirty water.” He alleged his young relatives were ‘cutting their toes’ on the broken covers of the pool skimmers, and said the sinks and drains were blocked for the first three days. “When you’re paying €6,800 it really is a poor show,” Wright said. “I feel robbed, misled and cheated Alquileres Guzman should not be allowed to offer family holidays in dangerous homes like this.” Wright claimed that workmen from
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Denia court orders ‘gypsies and squatters’ to vacate apartment block where British pensioners have been threatened and assaulted VICTORY is soon at hand for homeowners living in a ‘hellhole’ urbanisation occupied by gypsies and squatters after a court has ordered their eviction. At least 24 of the 64 apartments at the Mirador Monte Pedrera were illegally occupied as the squatters accessed water and electricity at the expense of legitimate homeowners. It comes after a series of Olive Press stories shined a light on the shocking takeover which left expats living in fear for their lives. British apartment owner Linda Brown, 61, told the Olive Press how she was punched in the ‘eye and the gut’ by a gypsy woman
EXCLUSIVE By Joshua Parfitt
NEWS
SPAIN is one of Europe’s worst culprits when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, figures have revealed. The country has seen the biggest increase in emissions on the continent, with a 51.7 million tonne rise between 1990 and 2017. Emissions grew by 17.9% during that time, while the EU collectively REDUCED its emissions by 23.5% during the same period. Austria, Cyprus, Ireland, Malta and Portugal also failed to reduce emissions effectively. Climate leaders however, are optimistic as Pedro Sanchez’s PSOE government plans to boost renewable energy production. Not only will clean energy become cheaper, but there will also be more electric vehicles on the road.
EXCLUSIVE By Josh Parfitt
‘Hellhole’ urbanisation sees two more
2
CRIME
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May 23rd - June 5th 2019
Please help us! Expat pensioners assaulted as their once luxury apartment block is ‘mobbed’ by squatters
EXCLUSIVE By Joshua Parfitt
ANOTHER two families have fled an urbanisation that families leave descended into ‘hell’ after due to problems squatters began a ‘violent with squatters coup d’etat’ five years ago. A retired German couple and a Spanish family have had enough of living in the Mirador Monte Pedrera estate, in Denia, which has become a plain and simple,” British ‘hellhole’ for legal residents. expat Linda, who has owned As reported in our last is- a penthouse apartment with sue, only 11 of 64 apartments her partner Arnene since were sold in 2007 when 2007, told the Olive Press. Spain sunk into recession. “They want all the owners The rest remained empty and out so they can completely just four of the legally-owned rule the kingdom.” apartments are now inhabi- The latest departures come ted all year-round, after the just days after Linda, 61, was Germans and Spanish also in court after she was punmoved out. ched in the gut and the eye According to a British cou- by a female squatter. ple, who still live there, one It came after she had asked of the Germans, from Mu- the neighbour to turn down a nich, had to be ‘hospitalised’ ‘blaring karaoke system’. after suffering a ‘breakdown’ She and Arnene, 72, sleep from stress. with the ‘burglar alarm on’ “The squatters want us out, and have barricaded themselves in on their fourth-floor apartment as they live with daily death AN investigation has been A BRITISH holidaymaker has died threats and abuse. launched after the body of after falling from the 15th floor of The pressure was too a British diver was found his apartment block in Benidorm. much however, for a 170 ft underwater off the Colin McGarry, 48, from Belfast, young Spaniard, who died at around 1.45 am on Suncoast of Murcia. told the Olive Press day morning after plunging from Phillip Evans, 69, got sethey were leaving A the balcony of Torre Gerona. parated from his diving after his wife, who is place. take to due is post-mortem group in the Islas Hormieight-months preg-
5
June 6th - June 19th 2019
ABANDON SHIP
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A GROUP of British pensioners are pleading for help after their block of flats descended into ‘hell’ due to squatters. The expats - who have lived in the Denia urbanisation for a decade - are desperate after a mob
Your reporters, here to help on the Costa Blanca
of ‘gypsies and squatters’ began breaking in five years ago. They insist neither the police or local authorities have helped to tackle the illegal occupants, who have taken over 25 of the 64 apartments in the Mirador
Monte Pedrera complex. “They have turned what was once a lovely community into a no-go area,” said the 72-yearold, who is too frightened to give her name out of fear of retaliation.
The grandmother continued that the squatters had punched a number of pensioners and even broke a handyman’s arm with baseball bats. “We came here for a peaceful retirement and what we’ve got is
hell on earth,” she told the Olive Press. “My partner got punched in the gut and the eye by one for simply asking to turn down a karaoke system blaring out during siesta hours,” she continued. They are due to attend court this week over the assault, but are not expecting anything to be done. Other residents, who include Germans and Spaniards, have also come under attack. “A handyman tried to stop three men breaking into an apartment and was thrashed by baseball bats just five weeks ago,” the pensioner said. “They broke his arm in two places.” The problems began when the recession curtailed sales in the block in 2007 and only 11 of the 64 apartments were sold. Many of the vacant homes were later seized by the squatters, a number of them even being sublet for money, it is claimed. Collectively the 11 owners are having to cover all the communal bills for the urbanisation, which includes a ‘€20,000 debt’ incurred by squatters stealing electricity and water In addition, they claim the developer owes €200,000 to the community. Police told the Olive Press they were unable to enter the properties as they are on ‘private land’.
NEWS IN BRIEF King and country KING Juan Carlos has retired from public duty, exactly five years after he abdicated in favour of his son, King Felipe VI. Juan Carlos, 81, will retain his royal title as King, however.
after requesting she turn down blaring music during siesta hours. She said the owners of the four remaining legitimate apartments in the urbanisation lived with Diving ‘death threats’ before, in June, disaster 15-storey fall a German elderly couple finally caved in and left Spain after 12 years. A Spanish couple, who asked to VICTORY: For couple Linda and Arnene while (inset) previous remain nameless, also told the story Olive Press how they were flee- to stress. byshire, described how the couple ing after the eight-month preg- “The squatters will be €60 gone by were forced to sleep with the ‘burContinues on Page 5 nant wife was ‘hospitalised’ due September, thank the Lord and glar alarms on’ as the stairs up to thank you Olive Press for cover- their penthouse apartment were ing the story,” Linda Brown, who barricaded by an iron gate. lives with partner Arnene, 72, “They have no choice now, they must all now leave,” a spokespersaid. “There were 23 defendants in son for Japsa, the urbanisation’s promoter, told the court and 22 lawTHIS is the second pig to have trotted Olive Press. yers, it was bedinto a British-run rescue centre on the “Our police force lam. Costa Blanca. is excellent, but “But the public The Olive Press previously reported the courts were prosecutor was how Rupert the pig ran 3km from the not giving them very passionate ‘filthy, dirty shed’ where he was living warrants to act. and firm in sumand wandered into the Easy Care Horse “In Spain, squatming it up.” Rescue Centre near Torrevieja last month. ters are given ocThe success comes (inset top right). The clever pig trotted in cupancy rights if following a ‘coup ‘as if he knew where he was going’ in what they are not red’etat’ after a Easy Care owner Susan Weeding could only moved within 24 62-year-old gypsy describe as ‘a nearly impossible feat’. hours of entering. ‘patriarch’ moved But that feat was repeated when Penelo“But now all of in, bringing his pe the pot-bellied Vietnamese pig turned up them have been 10 sons and their SHOCKING: Squatter ‘completely out of the blue’. given an eviction wives and children. damage Susan admitted she has ‘no idea’ how far this order and a month A reign of terror one has travelled in search of freedom. saw young children, many not at- to find a new place to live - if they “Obviously someone has been watching Babe, or tending school, shouting ‘sons of don’t leave, the police will kick maybe flicking through the pages of George Orwell’s Animal Farm - the pigs are rising!” b*tches’ and ‘we will kill you all’ them onto the streets.” Susan told the Olive Press. Susan added Rupert wanted ‘nothing to do with Penelope’ however, as Rupert up at the British pensioners. prefers ‘being around people’. Opinion Page 6 Linda, an ex-copper from Dergas marine reserve.
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A SERIES of Whatsapp messages to a girlfriend have spared a teenager from a prison sentence for armed robbery. The 19-year-old Spanish student from La Nucia was arrested in 2018 on suspicion of holding up a casino and robbing €11,500 at gunpoint. But a Benidorm court heard how WhatsApp messages backed his alibi that he was texting his girlfriend when the assault took place. After an expert’s report confirmed they could not have been manipulated and also placing him at home, he was found not guilty.
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FIREBUG IN TROUBLE
A PARTYGOER in Benidorm has been arrested after setting off a fire extinguisher in a karaoke bar. The man, a Brit, yanked the extinguisher from the wall and covered the floor, tables, drinks and sandwiches in thick white dust.
Justice for rapist A BRITISH man who raped two teenage girls 40 years ago has been jailed following extradition from the Costa Blanca. Jeffrey Waite, 66, carried out the attacks in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the UK. However, he managed to skip a court hearing in 2016 and fled to Torrevieja, before a European arrest warrant led to his capture in March last year.
Waite was found guilty of raping the teenagers, one of them underage, in Hartlepool. They likened him to a ‘madman’ and an ‘animal’.
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and (inset) squatter WORRIED: Legal neighbours www.noneedtopaint.com steal from us, threaten us nant, was hospitalised due to and abuse us, and the law is stress-related complications. not on our side until one of “I wanted to raise my family us gets hurt,” Linda said. in this beautiful place, but I “But they won’t get us out, can’t risk my wife’s life,” he because the Brits never explained. give up. Not when we’ve The nightmare began five sunk every penny into our years ago when a 62-year- €270,000 apartment and old ‘gypsy’ patriarch broke have nowhere else to go.” in with his 11 children and A legal representative for grandchildren. Jepsa, who maintain the urHis wider family have now banisation, told the Olive taken over 24 apartments Press: “The law forbids the which they sublet out to illegal squatting of proper‘drug addicts’. ties and use of water and The apartments are illegally electricity, but nothing is beconnected to water and elec- ing done. tricity, yet police have only “We have a beautiful counintervened on one occasion try, which is loved by people when a man threatened to around the world, but the kill Linda with a hammer in law does not function as it front of an officer last year. should.” can They “It’s horrendous.
No way
A SECOND runway at Alicante-Elche airport has been opposed by the Friends of the Wetlands of the South of Alicante (AHSA), who objected that the runway would destroy the wetlands of Agua Amarga.
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Look out
GOOGLE Maps has introduced into Spain a new function that warns users of the location speed cameras, both fixed and mobile. The function is available on both Android and iOS, but only Android users can report mobile speed cameras.
Dog’s life
PETS now outnumber children under 15 in Spain, with 13 million registered at the end of last year. Dogs make up 93% of all registered pets.
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Sculpture attack
A FOUNTAIN in Alicante’s most iconic square has been attacked by a man with a hammer. The legs of the horses in the sculpture in Plaza de los Luceros were shattered by the 38-year-old assailant. An arm of an angel was also badly cracked in the attack. The Spanish man has been arrested on a charge of crimes against cultural heritage.
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