Olive Press Costa Blanca North and Valencia Issue 116

The properties fighting climate change

Look who´s just got married

SICKENING!

A BRITISH expat has been slapped with a £20,000 (€23,000) hospital bill after her bowel exploded during a trip to the UK.

Helen Winslade, 55, who lives in Almeria, was visiting home in early July when she had to undergo life saving surgery, losing a part of her small intestine.

The procedure went well, but amazingly, within weeks the retired Brit was faced with a whopping bill from the NHS, despite her British citizenship.

Expat slammed with €23,000 UK hospital bill after bowel explodes during visit

By Yzabelle Bostyn

The Welsh native was diagnosed with a rare form of bowel cancer known as GIST tumours.

According to her brother, Karl Winslade, Helen was not expecting to stay in the UK for an extended period and their ‘small pension’ could

not fund Helen’s accommodation, food and travel costs. Karl launched a fundraising campaign to get Helen back to Spain, where he said ‘her prognosis would be better’ due to shorter waiting times. She finally returned in late September after a months-long ordeal.

Her husband, Carlos, had been left holding the fort in Seron, while she

was stuck in the UK short of funds.

The impact of Covid 19 ‘wiped out’ their business, leaving the couple to live ‘on a very small pension’. The case is a warning to any expats considering visiting home without medical insurance or failing to travel with the correct forms in case of an unexpected health scare. Under current laws, if you are not a UK resident, you must produce relevant documentation to

receive free NHS treatment - including an EHIC (a European health card) or GHIC card, or a so-called S1 or S2 form. Alternatively, you can request a Provisional Replacement Certificate, which will cover healthcare in the UK for the

Must get the card!

PEOPLE resident in Spain are not automatically covered for emergency treatment on the UK’s National Health Service even if they are British citizens. They should get an EHIC (European Health Insurance Card), which is free in Spain and available to people enrolled with their regional health department.

This ensures emergency health care is available during trips to the UK and EU countries on the same terms as in the visited nation.

In the UK this means attention would be free, although in some other countries charges may apply on the same basis as locals pay. It does not cover any private healthcare or costs such as a return flight.

It also does not cover your costs if you are travelling for the express purpose of obtaining medical treatment.

Serial stealer

A REPEAT thief who kept stealing from parked cars in a Calpe communal garage was arrested by police when he was on his way to commit some new robberies.

Pool death

A BOY, 4, drowned in a Mutxamel swimming pool on Sunday with paramedics unable to revive the youngster.

Busy cops

THE Policia Nacional arrested 30,000 people in the Valencian Community in 2022, with cybercrime on the rise, as the body received 18,000 complaints.

Pet hack

A DATABASE storing details of Valencian Community registered pet owners was hacked in early July according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Pet owners have been alerted to be suspicious of any strange calls, with the hack having been rectified.

can extremist figures.

As we reported last issue, the Costa Blanca villaowned by billionaire fashion tycoon Philip Day - even saw the likes of Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes. In retaliation for the arti -

New witness in Maddie case

A NEW witness claims he saw Maddie McCann suspect Christian Brueckner running from a rape of a young expat in Portugal.

The hotel worker on the Algarve claims he saw the German fleeing the apartment in Portimao at dawn.

He was able to identify him as blonde-haired Brueckner as he had taken off his mask to flee. “He came forward recently with his evidence,” a German source told the Olive Press. “His testimony is very credible.”

The employee had been arriving early for work when he allegedly spotted him. His

evidence comes after ‘others’ identified seeing a man climb up to attack Hazel Behan, 20, in 2004. Behan, now 40, believes she was followed home to her apartment, which had a balcony ‘easy to climb onto’. “I’m sure it was, blondehaired Brueckner, who spoke to me in English with a German accent,” she told the Olive Press this week. She added: “If Portuguese cops had put a ‘call’ out for info at the time, this witness might have come forward then.”

See Countdown, page 6

cle, Robinson claimed he had ‘found out’ where our reporters live.

Fire starter

A BRITISH expat has been charged for allegedly setting fire to rubbish collection bins and parked cars in Javea. The 43-year-old is said to have embarked on an arson spree in the early hours of August 8, leading to a string of panicked calls to police.

The Guardia Civil said the Brit set fire to 13 containers valued at €19,000 and at least three nearby cars. A warrant was put out for his arrest after witness statements and security cameras identified his vehicle at the scene of the fires.

Guardia Civil officers pounced on his vehicle in a public car park.

REVEALED: The Olive Press investigated Robinson last issue

post on his Telegram channel while walking into the Alicante hills.

“I know exactly where you live. You live at your mum's, you sad little p***k.

“I got all your details straight away,” he claimed in a €5,000-a-month, six-bedroom villa, but merely using it as a filming location. Robinson was declared bankrupt in 2021 and is currently unable to open a bank account or monetise his social media channels. It raises questions about how he could afford to rent and use the villa.

“What, you want to show pictures of where I live? See if you like it when I come and knock on your mum’s door.” Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, argued that showing pictures of where he (claims) to live potentially endangers his children.

He later alleged that he will have to relocate again, as his children have faced threats from anti-fascist extremists. However, Olive Press investigations actually reported that Robinson was NOT residing at the

Football crazy

TWO boys have been arrested over a mass brawl involving machetes at a football stand in Javea.

The four-time imprisoned ex-convict has previously spent time in Gibraltar and on the Costa del Sol. He is currently facing another jail stint back in the UK for contempt of court and will appeal a conviction for the stalking of a journalist at the Independent newspaper. The Guardia Civil has been alerted to the threats against the Olive Press

Rival groups had been threatening violence via social media leading up to a Saturday clash between the U16 teams from CD Javea and UD Benissa. Spectators - mostly parentsat the municipal ports ground were horrified when the youths started fighting in the stands. One teenage group wore black t-shirts and threw motorcycle helmets, while at least one of the aggressors brandished a machete.

Multiple youths were carrying knives, screwdrivers, and wooden clubs.

Panda party

MADRID’S zoo marked a special occasion as giant panda twins, Youyou and Jiujiu, celebrated their second birthday.

The inseparable duo were treated to a bamboo ice cream cake.

These well-known pandas have been a

Island nuptials

Football legend Ronaldo marries model Celine Locks in Ibiza

THE low-key wedding of a struggling second division football club president in Ibiza turned more than a few heads.

But that’s not surprising when the Spanish football club in question, Real Valladolid, is owned by none other than footballing superstar Ronaldo (the Brazilian, not Portuguese player).

He was getting married to his bride, Brazilian model Celine Locks, 33, in the small village of es Cubells, just southwest of the island where Ronaldo, 47, owns a luxurious home.

The couple's engagement, which was announced in January during a romantic Caribbean getaway, culminated in a picturesque

By Walter Finch

church wedding - the World Cup winner’s third time tying the knot.

As Ronaldo and Celina left the church, showered in confetti, they shared matching Instagram posts, proclaiming: “Today we brought our families together for an intimate religious celebration and thus marked the beginning of a week of many celebrations.”

The newlyweds held a grand party for 400 guests at Ronaldo's home in Cala Jondal.

The love story began seven years ago when Celina, a successful businesswoman and model, first started dating

ROYAL VISIT

PRINCE Harry and wife Meghan have been in Portugal at the invitation of his cousin Princess Eugenie.

According to Portuguese magazine Nova Gente, Prince Andrew’s 33 yearold daughter and her husband Jack Brooksbank(33) recently bought a home in Melides on the Atlantic coast.

Harry (39) and 42 year-old Meghan enjoyed the romantic break after attending the Invictus Games in Germany.

major draw for millions of visitors over the past two years and have even gained recognition on Chinese television.

Born in 2021, these two male pandas weighed a mere 150 grams at birth. Today, they tip the scales at around 70 kilograms each, nearly matching their mother, Huazuiba.

By the time they reach four years of age, they are expected to weigh approximately 400 kilograms.

Legend visits

MERYL Streep has confirmed she will be to Oviedo’s Teatro Campoamor to pick up a top award.

The Hollywood legend has won the prestigious 2023 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts.

The 74-year-old star already has three Oscars, as well as three Emmys, two Baftas and a best actress victory at the

the former Real Madrid and Inter Milan striker.

One of the first people to congratulate the happy couple, who are honeymooning in the Dominican Repub-

RAM RAID

THE home of Spanish footballer Sergio Ramos was robbed while his four children were inside, it has emerged.

The raid at the sprawling La Alegria estate, in Bollullos de la Mitacion near Sevilla, was targeted by robbers last Wednesday.

According to the Guardia Civil, Ramos and his wife Pilar Rubio (pictured)were not at home but their four children and their caregivers were.

lic, was Ronaldo's ex-wife Milene Domingues.

The former footballer wrote: “I'm happy for you. God bless and protect you always. Long live love.”

Cannes Film Festival. It has been announced she will pick up the prize in person at the October 20 event. A 19 member Asturias jury announced Streep as this year's winner, after considering 44 candidates from 20 countries. Previous winners include composers Ennio Morricone, John Williams and Martin Scorsese.

The thieves struck while Ramos was away playing a Champions League match against French club Lens. His wife, meanwhile, had been travelling for work.

The robbers took luxury watches, jewellery, designer clothes and cash. No one was injured.

HAPPY COUPLE: Ronaldo and Celine tied the knot

SPLASHING THE CASH

THE Valencian Community welcomed 1.26 million international tourists during August - up by 20% on last year with record levels of expenditure. UK tourists accounted for over 20% of visitors, closely followed by France and Germany. August spending meanwhile reached a record €1.67 billion, a massive 21% rise on last year.

In total, the average expenditure per person stood at €1,324, 1.2% more than in August 2021, while the average tourist stayed 10.3 days in Valencia. Over seven million tourists had visited up till September 1, spending €8.4 billion (up 22%).

“It’s been an extraordinary summer,” said Tourism Minister, Hector Gomez.

“It confirms the recovery of the sector which is key to our economy for employment and wealth.”

AN expat has been jailed for faking a heart attack to avoid picking up the cheque in at least 20 restaurants in Spain.

The 50-year-old, originally from Lithuania, will spend 42 days behind bars after failing to pay two fines for his series of theatrical dine and dashes.

His modus operandi was identical in almost every eatery he targeted, the majority of them on the Costa Blanca. He was a man of habit and would always order several glasses of ‘White Label’ whiskey to wash down a Russian salad, a dish ‘he seems to like quite a bit’, said one restaurant owner. Among the targets were El Buen Comer and Sale&Pepe, in Alicante.

“It was very theatrical, he pretended

So who took our money?

A DEVASTATED expat couple have slammed the decision to dismiss a giant pension fraud case that saw hundreds of Brits in Spain ‘robbed’ of their life savings.

They are furious a Costa Blanca court has ruled there is insufficient evidence to prosecute four executives of collapsed financial firm Continental Wealth Management (CWM). However Denia Court hasn’t entirely absolved them of

Menu del dash

to faint and slumped himself down on the floor,” said the manager at El Buen Comer.

“We have sent his photo around to all the restaurants to try and stop him from striking again.”

A worker at Sale&Pepe said: “We’ve all received a warning with his photo telling us to be careful and to not serve him anything.”

Because each incident was considered a small amount of money, they are only considered as ‘minor crimes’.

However the restaurant owners are now planning to file a joint complaint which could land the man up to two

Shock for hundreds of expat victims as court dismisses giant €35 million CWM pension fraud case

EXCLUSIVE

By Walter Finch

criminal conduct, nor ruled out further proceedings, with the victims set to launch a new case in Madrid. CWM allegedly defrauded up to 1,000 mostly British expats of €35 million between 2013 and 2017.

The firm placed their pensions in high-risk investments which, initially, paid out

years in jail. A lawyer from the prestigious firm Navarra Sancho said: “He has taken advantage of the legal system, with such small fines unpaid it’s difficult to achieve a longer sentence in prison.”

HEARTY EATER: but expat never paid bill

huge commissions, but later collapsed leaving them with nothing.

But after a four-year litigation process the judge ruled that a class action by 17 victims failed to bring enough proof of wrongdoing.

The judge added many of them had worked in finance and ‘had the risks explained to them’.

“Surely someone is accountable for what happened,” the British couple, who wish to remain anonymous, told the Olive Press.

Sole director Jody Smart and ex-husband, mastermind Darren Kirby, stood accused of fraud, disloyal administration and falsification of documents.

The pair allegedly forged investors’ signatures and made changes to documents without the investor’s consent, although this was unproved.

sented many of the victims, blamed the failure on the complexity of the case.

“Under EU law, it's not enough for the investors to say they accept the risk,” the pensions specialist told the Olive Press. “They also have to make sure that they spell out what the risks mean.”

However, she is now launching a new claim with fresh complainants in the High Court in Madrid and will also take on other insurance and pension companies involved in the alleged scam.

“We will work with the prosecutor to make this a proper national case to bring a criminal trial against not just the advisors but also the other parties that are involved as well.

“We need to see somebody going to prison here in Spain, because these people have walked off with millions,” she insisted.

Do you know the man? Please contact tips@theolivepress.es

CWM employees Paul Clarke, and Stephen Ward were also co-defendants in the complex case that was hindered by the Covid-19 pandemic and also spanned jurisdictions in Ireland, Germany, Malta, and Cyprus.

Angie Brooks, who repre-

While Kirby failed to turn up at court and his whereabouts are unknown, Smart’s husband, Franco Pearson insisted Jody would not be commenting on the apparent victory. The chef, who runs a restaurant in Benissa, added: “Go get a life.”

Sanchez victory looms

KING Felipe VI has put forward Pedro Sanchez as candidate for prime minister after the failed attempt of conservative leader Alberto Nuñez Feijoo to take power.

The nomination came after the monarch held a fresh round of meetings with Spain’s political leaders, the second he has had since the inconclusive general election held on July 23.

Sanchez will need the support of the new leftist bloc Sumar as well as smaller groups, including Catalan nationalists who are demanding serious concessions for their pro-independence cause. He will this week meet with the leader of Sumar, caretaker deputy PM Yolanda Diaz, to explore the possibility of a new leftist coalition.

BETTER BENI!

BENIDORM has started the second phase of work on its €500,000 road renovation plan. Works began this week on streets con-

necting Avenida Jaime I and Calle Maravell.

New non-slip pavements will be installed, as well as the planting of large trees to create ‘a ‘pleasant, accessible and green public space’.

Disco inferno

A COURT has opened a criminal investigation after 13 people died in a fire at an ‘illegal’ nightclub in Murcia City on Sunday.

Owners are expected to be charged with reckless manslaughter after the blaze tore through three adjoining clubs in the early hours.

Detectives from the Policia Nacional will now take ‘several weeks’ to determine the cause of the fire and who - or what - should take responsibility.

Prosecutor Jose Luis Diaz insisted if the tragedy arose from recklessness, then those responsible could face up to

TRULY STUCK

STAFF and youngsters at Gandia's Francisco de Borja school had a scare when a two-year-old boy got his head stuck in a chair.

The child had manoeuvred his head between the seat and back support and teachers could not release him.

Gandia firefighters were called in and with great care, sawed off the back of the chair, with the boy none the worse for his experience.

Probe gathers pace over the horrific nightclub fire that left 13 dead in Murcia

a short circuit not caused by negligence,” he added.

It was however, revealed that the Disco Fonda Milagroswhich saw the brunt of the fatalities - did not have a licence and was ordered to close in January 2022.

The company that runs the club had advised the council it had divided its buildings into two different establishments: Fonda Milagros and the adjoining Teatre, in June 2019.

nine years in prison. He promised ‘an exhaustive search’ to uncover the truth, adding: “We need to go centimetre by centimetre to check everything,” he said. “Let’s see how it ends up because there may have been

But the council had rejected the change on the basis a new licence would have to be issued, given the ‘magnitude’ of the modification.

It emerged the failure to get a licence led to a closure order being slapped on the clubs in January 2022, with an appeal rejected the following year. Despite this, the clubs remained open for a year, with the council unable to explain why no inspections had subsequently been made.

Police confirmed that a key factor had been the collapsing of the roof, which made it harder for guests to exit and for rescue operations to be conducted.

The majority of the bodies were found in the first floor restaurant area, where a 30th birthday party was being held for Nicaraguan Erick Torres Hernandez, who had a sevenyear-old daughter.

He, his partner Orfilia Blandon (27), brother Sergio (39) and mother Martha (62) all died in the blaze.

An eye-witness described the clubs as a ‘labyrinth’ with just one winding staircase offering limited access. Others claimed that emergency exits were not sign-posted. Family members have supplied DNA samples to identify the bodies found in the club. The investigating judge is awaiting the results of those samples, once autopsies have been completed.

Voted top expat paper in Spain

A campaigning, community newspaper, the Olive Press represents the huge expatriate community in Spain with an estimated readership, including the websites, of more than two million people a month.

OPINION

Share the blame

THE fire that has claimed 13 lives in Murcia may have been an accident (a lighting short circuit is suspected) but there will be blame attached.

A criminal investigation has been launched against the owners of the three nightclubs where the tragedy unfurled.

And if they have been found to be negligent, the full force of the law should be brought against them. But they should not be the only ones put under the spotlight. The actions - or rather inaction - of the local authorities should also be closely examined.

How is it that, despite a closure order on the businesses (because they had split one club into two with unauthorised building works), the discos were allowed to operate?

Why were there NO safety inspections in the year since the closure order was made?

The unauthorised removal of a wall may have been partly to blame for the roof collapsing, trapping and killing innocent party goers. But City Hall must be held accountable too.

Warning for all

THE shocking NHS bill sent to expat Helen Winslade should be a warning for all Brits in Spain (Sickening, p1).

Despite having lived all her working life in the UK and having paid national insurance and a host of other taxes, Helen was unable to access free healthcare when confronted with an emergency during a visit home. No one expects to fall ill when travelling, let alone have their bowel rupture, but life is unpredictable.

We sincerely hope that Helen is now on the mend after finally making her way back to Spain with her husband Carlos in Seron, near Almeria.

However let this be a lesson to all of us to ensure we are covered when returning back to Blighty. Get your EHIC card, fill in a so-called S1 or S2 form or make sure your health insurance is extensive enough to cover the worst possible scenario.

PUBLISHER / EDITOR

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COUNTDOWN BEGINS

When will German Maddie McCann suspect finally get his day in court over the missing toddler? Jon Clarke analyses the timescale, the ‘confession’ in Spain, PLUS five other sex crimes in Portugal?

IT’S the case that never seems to close. Now into its 16th year, the mystery over the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann in Portugal, has still not been solved. But, it’s creeping ever closer to coming to trial, after a landmark ruling in Germany. It involves a court in Braunschweig finally accepting it has the jurisdiction to try its former resident Christian Brueckner, 46.

As well as the abduction and murder of the British toddler in May 2007, he is also due to be charged with five other serious sex crimes.

These are three rapes and two child sex offences, all taking place on the Algarve between 2000 and 2017.

Feel like you’ve read that before? You did, almost a year ago on October 11 when

the Olive Press revealed exclusively Brueckner was set to be charged and sent to trial by ‘this Spring or Summer’. The German sex offender - who is currently serving seven years for the rape of a 72-year-old American expat on the Algarve in 2005 - saw complex committal proceedings against him officially begin back then.

It involved getting permission from Italy, the last place he was living as a free man in 2018, to confirm an extradition request to bring him back to Germany.

He had also been made an official suspect (or arguido) over the Maddie case in Portugal.

But then things came to a shuddering halt for prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters and

the victims, including former Irish holiday rep Hazel Behan, 40. Brueckner’s lawyer, Friedrich Fulscher, put a spanner in the works claiming the regional court in Braunschweig had no jurisdiction to hear the case, because their client’s last formal address

was not there but in a backwater of former East Germany.

He claimed he had resided at a derelict box factory in Neuwegersleben and should actually therefore be tried in the nearby regional court in Magdeburg.

While Brueckner bought the factory back in 2008 or 2009, prosecutor Wolters argued he had never actually lived there and was never officially registered there. “He only spent the odd night there in his winnebago,” he told me earlier this year.

But in a bombshell decision, in April, the regional court sided with Fulscher, ruling Braunschweig had no jurisdiction to hear the case.

It came as a big blow to Wolt

FACING HER ATTACKER

ONE of Brueckner’s alleged victims, Irish mother-of-three Ha zel Behan, 40, told the Olive Press she was ‘looking forward to finally facing him in court’. The former Algarve resort worker, from Dublin, was just 20 when she was tied up, beaten and tortured during a four-hour filmed ordeal, in 2004. She is certain the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Brueckner was her attacker. “I’ve been waiting nearly two decades for closure on the attack that changed the course of my life,” she said. “I need this whole saga to end.”

The remarkable human-led resettling of Ibises to Cadiz is just one of a number of programs to replenish Spain’s critically endangered birds

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AWARDS

THERE is a flock of birds that is making its way south from the Alps to Andalucia for an annual migration this autumn - nothing too out-of-the-ordinary about that.

Apart from the fact that the critically endangered Northern Bald Ibises are being led by a human in an ultralight aircraft on their 2,000km journey to Jerez.

Known for its dark feathers and distinctive bald red head, the Northern Bald Ibis vanished from Spain and Europe three centuries ago. Until recently, there were only two surviving populations left in the wild; one in Morocco, of roughly 600, and another in Syria, with fewer than 10.

A breeding program at the Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna helped establish northern populations and now hand-reared chicks have been trained to follow a caregiver in an ultralight aircraft to establish a southern migra tion route to southern Spain.

The plucky Ibis is not the only bird species long-extinguished in Spain to have made a comeback, thanks to the efforts of conservationists.

After going extinct in the 1980s, the Osprey was brought back to Spain in 2013.

Twelve Ospreys were taken from their nests in Scotland and released into the Basque coun try north of Bilbao.

More recently, British Red Kites helped to save their Hispanic cousins from going extinct in Spain.

As with so many bird species in Spain, numbers of this raptor have been decimated by the illegal use of poisons, hunting and habitat degradation and loss due to high-intensity agriculture. Experts grew alarmed when the breeding population in Spain

dropped to a mere 50.

BIRD BOUNCE

Over the summers of 2022 and 2023 and into next year, around 100 Red Kites from the UK have been carefully released into Extremadura.

However, they are only returning the favour after relocated Spanish Red Kites saved their British cousins from being wiped out in the UK

Moving up the food chain of birds of prey that have gone extinct on the Iberian peninsula, another is on its way back - the largest and

A colossal predator with a wingspan of nearly two and a half metres, the White-Tailed Eagle had not been seen in Spain since Borrowing from the robust populations in Norway, 18 young eagles were extracted from nests earlier this summer and made

their journey to Madrid airport on June 29.

Before taking flight into Spanish skies, these eagles are residing in a specialised enclosure near the town of Pimiango in Asturias. Some 13 of the eagles have been released into the wild so far, with the remaining five not deemed large enough yet.

From predators to scavengers; another grand endeavour is underway, this time to restore the Black Vulture to its historic homeland in Spain’s Iberian Highlands.

Once a common sight, the Aegypius monachus faced dwindling numbers and extinction in the region a century ago due to shrinking forest habitats.

The revival project has involved releasing sevenof the vultures into Alto Tajo Nature Park in Castilla-La Mancha after a meticulous seven-month acclimatisation period in an aviary.

These birds, equipped with GPS transmitters, are now getting accustomed to their new surroundings.

It is part of a plan to release between 40 and 50 Black Vultures to go with the already-healthy Griffon Vulture population.

INVESTIGATION: Clarke meets Wolters (right)

roperty

October 2023

On brand

Designer homes are flooding image-conscious Marbella in the latest trend for super-rich investors, see page 9

GARDENS OF EDEN

The cities that are a breath of fresh air

See page 10

ONLY WAY IS UP*

IF you’re still wondering whether buying in Spain is a sound investment, the latest figures should give you a clue.

In the second quarter of 2023, prices nationwide increased by 3.6% compared to the same period in 2022. It follows a healthy 3.5% year-onyear boost during the first quarter of this year.

The latest statistics mean prices have been rising in Spain every quarter since 2014.

That’s almost 10 years of continu-

PropertypricesinSpainhaverisenforeveryquartersince2014

By Laurence Dollimore

ous and steady growth. Driving the uptick has been the construction of new-build homes, which are popping up across the country, but particularly on the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca. And if you bought a new-build home last year, you will have already seen a tidy increase in value, with the av-

erage price rising 7% year-on-year. The investment opportunities have not been lost on foreign buyers, who only purchased 2.7% fewer homes in the first quarter of 2023 compared to 2022.

That is a strong sign of demand given the sharp interest rate rises this year and the worsening cost of living and inflation crises hitting Spain’s most important foreign buyer markets in the UK and

Germany.

In particular, the number of purchases by foreigners fell by just 2.7% year-on-year in Q1 2023, compared to declines among Spanish buyers of a 9% for second-home purchases and a 12% for first-home purchases.

In addition, this strength in sales among foreigners follows the significant rebound of 2022, when they grew by 30.7% compared to 6.4%

growth for home sales as a whole. As a result, they now account for a much larger portion of total sales (19.5%, according to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda), and this is partly down to the fact that foreign buyers are less dependent on credit when purchasing property.

*With respect to long-term expat Malaga resident Yazz

ELITE: Homes include Dolce & Gabbana and (below) Karl Lagerfeld

MOST foreign buyers in Spain go for second-homes, but some nationalities more than others

If you look at the data for Spanish home purchases by foreign buyers, and break the numbers down between residents and non-residents, and assume that residents are buying main homes (which most of them are, though some will be buying a second-home or investment), and assume that non-residents are buying holiday-homes (which most of them are, though some will be buying with a view to future relocation) you get a reasonable idea of how each foreign

SECONDS

Which nationalities go more for holiday homes in Spain?

market breaks down between first and second home buyers.

So which nationalities go more for second-homes/investments, and how have the preferences changed over time? The chart answers the question.

Using data from the notaries going back to 2007 it looks at non-resident buyers from the main foreign markets for property in Spain (excluding markets like Morocco, which are in a completely different segment).

In 2022 the Swedes had the biggest

proportion of second-home buyers, with almost 90pc of Swedish buyers being non-resident, followed by the Danes at 83%, and the Belgians at 80pc. At the other end of the scale were the French at 60% (meaning 40pc of the French who buy a property in Spain are already resident), and the British at 61pc. The Germans and the Dutch were at 72pc, both having increased significantly since

2020.

The interesting thing about the British (in this context) is they have gone from the highest proportion of all nationalities in 2007 buying second-homes/investments abroad (77pc at the time) to the second-lowest last year, a hair’s breadth ahead of the French.

Why? I suppose that many British buyers back in 2007 were ‘investors’ who got inveigled into flipping and other such folly, and they disappeared from the market when the bubble burst between 2008 and 2010 (Swedish and Danish second-home buyers remained constant through that period). British second-home buyers recovered somewhat between 2013 and 2016 (Brexit referendum time), and have been declining ever since, a small uptick in 2022 notwithstanding.

FOREIGN BUYER BAN!

ANDORRA is taking action to combat property speculation and banning foreigners from buying property.

The bid to battle soaring prices has been introduced in the Pyrenean principality until a new tax can be introduced.

The microstate, between France and Spain, has decreed the temporary moratorium as it has become increasingly hard for its 84,000 inhabitants to buy a home.

“We are faced with a real estate epidemic,” explained politician Cerni Escale.

“Some of our citizens are being forced to leave the country because

they can’t afford the luxury of living here any more.”

Prices have risen by 12.8% in the six months up to April, with an estimated €1 billion of foreign capital being invested in real estate last year.

The moratorium will look into setting up a new tax on foreign buyers, which will then be used to build affordable housing for residents.

It comes while there has actually been a rise in construction in Andorra over the last year, albeit most of it luxury homes.

Estimates say that there are around 3,000 empty apartments owned by foreign investors.

NEARLY 100 stylish homes designed by Italian luxury brand Dolce&Gabbana are set to go on sale in Marbella.

There are already ‘between 40 and 50 buyers’ on the waiting list for the homes that will be completed by 2026.

Preparation work has begun on the site in the Sierra Blanca area and a show apartment will be ready by 2025.

Developer Sierra Blanca Estates has

Demolition at ‘Rural Marbella’ megaproject

ALL unfinished buildings, including a planned hotel and dozens of half built houses have to be knocked down at a controversial golf macroproject in Extremadura.

The four-star resort, called Marina Isla de Valdecañas, was built on an island in a reservoir near Caceres.

The project, which already has its golf course and a hotel open, must knock down a half built second hotel and other villas and return the land back to how it was found.

It is a win for local green groups, who have been campaigning against the project in Berrocalejo for over two decades.

They argued it had been constructed in a protected area for birds and wildlife and should not have had the backing of the regional authorities.

“In the end all this could have been avoided,” said a lawyer for Ecologistas en Accion. “We maintained from the start that it was illegal.”

The developer, Jose Maria Gea was given a stay of execution to demolish the rest of the resort in June this year, when Madrid’s Constitutional court paralyzed the demolition over its giant cost. The decision is being appealed in the Supreme Court, which will make the final decision.

Dubbed a ‘rural Marbella’ by the Spanish media, it was sold as a hidden getaway to wealthy Spaniards, including the son of former leader Jose Maria Aznar.

FASHION HILLS

teamed up with the high end Italian brand to create the development, with prices starting at €4 million.

See On Brand on page 14

DEEP POCKETS

Anoriginalone-of-a-kindPicasso etchinginthepoolhelpsjustify€30 millionvillapricetag

By Laurence Dollimore

THEY say the world’s most valuable homes have a unique selling point. And they don’t get much better than having an original Picasso in situ.

This stunning beachside mansion not only has an original Picasso, but it’s a one-of-a-kind etched into the bottom of its POOL.

Dubbed El Martinete, the €30 million

villa is the former home of late flamen-

co legend Antonio El Bailarin. Located in Puerto Banus, the beautiful home is said to have played host to many wild parties and secret love affairs over the years.

Bailarin - real name Antonio Ruiz Soler - named it after his favourite dance, the martinete, a fast and flexible style that resembles the hammer of a blacksmith’s anvil.

It stands on a plot of 4,017sqm, consisting of the main house and two independent outhouses.

There are a total of nine bedrooms, an outdoor jacuzzi, pool.

spa area, an indoor heated pool and even a small beauty and hair salon.

The master bedroom measures 120sqm and offers jaw-dropping sea views over the mediter-

ranean.

The home is surrounded by gardens and boasts a basement and solarium, but the star of show is the the outdoor swimming pool.

At the height of his career, Bailarin was a global star, having toured the world with his iconic flamenco show. He would often be seen with the Hollywood elite, including Ava Gardner and Vivien Leigh, the latter of whom he was rumoured to have shared a torrid romance.

Everyone from Rudolf Nureyev to Charles Chaplin fell at his feet - as well as a certain Pablo Picasso.

The story goes that the iconic Malaga painter invited the dancer to his 80th birthday party and was blown away after watching the Sevilla man dance.

It led to him sketching the dancer, which ended up on the bottom of his

“The artist was so enchanted that he jumped over the table that separated them, began to dance rumbas with Antonio, fell on his knees, kissed him on the cheek, then got up, took a pencil, sketched a portrait of the dancer and dedicated it to him,” an obituary in the Independent recalled in 1996. El Bailarin not only preserved that sketch, but decided to engrave it on the tiles of his pool, where it remains to this day.

The original is on display at the Almagro National Theater Museum, in Ciudad Real.

The house is for sale at €30 million. If you don’t have the cash to buy it, the property can be rented from between €30,000 and €80,000 per week.

STUNNING: The magnificent property is up for sale

ETCHING: Picasso sketch was engraved in to swimming pool for Bailarin (right)

STYLISH: Preview of the luxury resort

BORN TO RE-WILD

THIS is the super-smart eco-home that is re-wilding a patch of arid landscape in southern Spain thanks to its ingenious oval-shaped design.

The Rambla Climate-House is also packed with high and low tech devices that are replenishing the immediate area around the house in

How a stunning eco-home is bringing a landscape back to life in southern Spain

Molina de Segura, Murcia, following years of harmful urbanisation.

The impressive home is built around a circular garden in its centre and is raised on stilts, so as not to disturb

the soil underneath.

Meanwhile, an eco-friendly irrigation system

collects grey water and rainwater before spraying it onto the land below. The watering is done via sprinklers, which send out a fine mist into the central area.

Its intelligent system is tuned into sensor data and local weather reports to make sure it achieves the optimum moisture level for the soil. In just one year, the surroun-

ding nearby ravines have become home to palm, fig

and mastic trees that have spread naturally.

It has led to the creation of a microclimate, now home to many new plants, grasses as well as various animal and insect species - including rabbits, birds and snakes.

The property is the brainchild of Spanish architects Andres Jaque and Miguel Mesa del Castillo and their New-York based studio Office for Political Innovation.

The home was actually built for Miguel’s brother and sister-in-law at a budget of just €200,000.

“It was a miracle how fast the landscape changed," explains Jaque. “Yet it’s a very modest, humble house.

“We ended up with a system that is in-

credibly simple and cheap, and it nurtures life.”

He describes it as a ‘climatic and ecological device’ explaining: “It collects pooled rainfall from its roofs and grey water from its showers and sinks, which is then sprayed onto the rambla's dry earth regenerating it.”

The unique design of the house means the picturesque garden is visible from every room, while the apple green interior walls offer a striking burst of colour. The outer walls are all clad in galvanised steel, bar those facing the garden, as they are made of glass.

Meanwhile, a solar coil provides the home with an energy-efficient source of hot water.

COMPLEMENTARY: Man and nature can thrive together with a little imagination

Green roofs have developed substantially since the sedum coverings which became fashionable in the late 1990s.

Today many architects are utilising them to not just help biodiversity but also to improve insulation against heat and cold.

They also serve to reduce pollution, particularly CO2, aid biodiversity and ‘biophilia’ the theory that humans need to have regular connections with nature.

Nowadays trees are increasingly being plan-

ted on buildings and sometimes even vertically.

Take the 75-plus trees that have been insta-

GREEN ROOFS ARE GROWING

lled on the roof of the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen art museum, in Rotterdam.

They were actually grown together in a nearby nursery for three years until their roots were properly interlocked, meaning they would work together to protect themselves against high winds blowing them down.

At the Bosco Verticale, in Milan, various species were

STUNNING: Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen museum

CREATIVE: Milan’s Bosco Verticale and (top) 1000 trees

grown at height for two years prior to being installed on balconies so they would be better able to adapt.

At the 1000 Trees project in Shanghai, greenery takes on a whole new meaning. The 15 hectare site looks like a

pair of forest-capped mountains from the waterfront, with its pillars showing to highlight the structural means to lift up a landscape, tree by tree.

It is as if green shoots have sprouted up through the building to bloom on the skyline

Continues on page 12

Our services:

READ ON TO DISCOVER HOW…

A solar pool heating system... that pays for itself?

LAST week I visited a couple in a villa. They wanted a pool heating system. They had some ideas that they had read on the internet such as a solar kit to heat the pool and a system that flows pool water through black rubber panels on the roof, which heat the water.

In both cases, heating the pool is possible, but they are by no means the best solutions. The first disadvantage is that in both cases a space on the roof is used, which could be much more profitable (I will explain this below) with solar panels.

The second disadvantage is that they need

a very high investment to heat the pool, which cannot be recovered

This is because the energy that is produced is lost when the pool is not being actively heated. In addition, both systems have a high maintenance cost and low efficiency. In other words, we call them ‘old technology’. The best solution for pool heating is solar panels with an electric pool heater. Why is that? I hope I can explain it in a simple way. The solar panels produce enough energy for the pool heater to run, but they also supply electricity to the rest of the house. In other words, in the summer, when the pool

heater is off, you can use the solar energy produced to run air conditioning and other electrical needs in the rest of the house. In winter surplus energy can be used for electric heating, for example.

This is when we understand the enormous benefits of solar panels. They can give you a very high level of comfort in your home at a very low cost.

In addition, if you are not here all year round, you can opt for the virtual battery system that many electricity companies already offer.

Solar Panels Systems

Solar Panels Systems | Air Source Heat Pumps Pool Heaters

Air Source Heat Pumps

It is a kind of virtual wallet that accumulates credit from the sale of surpluses. At the end of the month, if we have accumulated 100€ worth of electricity surplus and the bill is 60€, 60€ of the credit will be used to cover the total bill and we will have 40€ left for the following month. So, in the months that the house is empty, your bills could go to €0, and also have credit left for when the house is occupied.

And this is where the magic of solar panels happens.

With an annual return of up to 20%, you can recover your investment in four to six years, and from that time onwards all the money saved is yours and you can enjoy the maximum comfort your house can offer and add value to your property.

I can confidently say that solar panels are a great investment both financially and for the environment.

SMART: unique design is allowing nature to recover

THE GREEN TAKEOVER

with the top of each column extending into a planter, with additional plants, expected to finally count 200,000 in number.

The idea is to bring nature close to each level and every terrace and there is a big mixture of greenery, from hanging plants to climbers

and fruit trees to ornamental Asiatic ones.

In Spain, there are many other examples of green roofs and walls being utilised in new builds, and sometimes in renovations of old homes.

In Malaga centre, the Mariposa

From page 11 Hotel has a 100m facade of hydroponically grown plants, numbering 3,000 and totally changing the appearance of the building.

The vertical garden in the Soho district was designed by Swedish company Biotonomy, with local company Bioazul helping with the engineering and technical side.

The largest interior garden in Europe, meanwhile, is in Valencia at the CaixaForum. Installed over the restaurant inside the Agora building at the Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias it covered a surface area of 700 metres squared and took one year to execute.

147 834

Some 20,000 plants cover the building creating enough oxygen for 650 people a year.

Of course, one of the best known vertical gardens in Spain is at the sister CaixaForum in Madrid, where the wonderful wall is now nearly a decade old.

The 78-foot wall was designed by Patrick Blanc and has 250 different species surviving entirely without soil, instead using pipe structures to support them and anchor their roots. The wall is watered via perforated pipes, with 50% of it recycled once the other half has been absorbed.

UNUSUAL: Internal restaurant at Barcelona’s La Caixa Forum

FLIGHT OF FANCY: Malaga’s Mariposa Hotel

GREEN WALL: Madrid’s La Caixa Forum

THE COMM, an exclusive resort for people who know what life is about

THE COMM is the freedom of living in your own space, with an international community and the facilities of a resort.

We are a private residential complex composed of 233 apartments, with a large central services building that offers medical assistance, sports activities (aquagym, pilates, wellness area...), restaurants and common areas dedicated to promoting creativity and leisure (reading room, live concerts, painting room...).

The protection of our residents is important to us, therefore, the urbanization has security cameras and security guards.

Enjoy your home, a personal space to live independently and to share time with friends or family.

A personal space in which to live autonomously and independently and decide when to share time with friends or family.

Our medical center, open to the public, has 7 specialties attended by renowned professionals (General Medicine, Cardiology, Physiotherapy, Dentistry, Podiatry, Internal Medicine, Nutrition)

Dolce & Gabbana

Designer homes

FOR the super rich not content with the latest designer purses, clothes and cars, there’s a new product they can add to their vast collections - homes.

In the latest trend to hit the property

market in Spain, a slew of developments designed by some of the world’s biggest fashion labels are popping up across Marbella.

Dolce&Gabbana, Fendi and Elie Saab are just some of the big names fronting

luxury apartments and villas in the exclusive Costa del Sol resort.

Icon Karl Lagerfeld started the trend when he helped design five villas in the exclusive Sierra Blanca area before his death in 2019. The former head of Chanel and Fendi put his stamp on the amazing homes, three of which have already sold for an estimated €15 million.

The latest brand to jump on the bandwagon is Dolce&Gabbana, one of Italy’s biggest fashion ex-

Karl Lagerfeld

ports.

The Design Hills Dolce&Gabbana Marbella is spread across a hillside just inland from the ultra-pricey Golden Mile.

Ranging from €3 million to €20 million, buyers can decide the level of D&G’s influence on their interiors - with the option of having its iconic ‘Maiolica’ design on the kitchen floor, wall and even ceiling, for example.

In conjunction with developers Sierra Blanca Estates, all of the homes - there are 92 in total - will offer jaw-dropping views of the Med and large terraces complete with private pools.

Residents will also have a home automation system connecting them with concierge and hospitality staff 24/7.

There will also be access to a private club featuring a cinema, bar, wine, and cigar cellar.

It comes as the neighbouring

Elie Saab

Fendi Casa development, dubbed EPIC, is also set to be completed soon. Apartments there are starting at more than €4 million and are also being developed by Sierra Blanca.

As too are the final two villas designed by the late German fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld. Elsewhere in Marbella, Lebanese fas-

Key to your own business

Pass the Keys is currently seeking Franchise Partners in Spain to meet the growing demand from homeowners in need of a comprehensive short-let property management service.

Founded by Alex Lyakhotskiy in 2015, Pass the Keys has revolutionised the UK’s short-term rental industry by offering a hassle-free, fully managed solution for homeowners who are unable to handle the management of their own properties.

Their services encompass everything from guest communication to cleaning, linen, and invoicing, providing homeowners with a seamless experience. Today, Pass the Keys is not only the leading short let management company in the UK but also the most trusted. Their franchise partners work closely with property owners to fully manage their properties, including listing them on popular platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo, handling bookings, communicating with guests, and overseeing cleaning and maintenance.

Initially operating in London and York, Pass the Keys expanded into a franchise model in 2019, allowing them to establish a proven business model based on their own successful processes. In September 2022, they launched their services in Spain, further expanding the company’s reach.

hion house Elie Saab is selling five villas through Savills, each with a starting price of around €8.3million.

But it’s not just ‘Marbs’ that is seeing an influx of luxury names being attached

to developments.

Nearby in Benahavis, in the so-called ‘Golden Triangle’ of property that also includes Estepona, Lamborghini has got in on the act.

Continues on page 16

To streamline operations, a dedicated in-house tech team has developed bespoke systems to automate various aspects of the end-to-end process, such as optimising listings, contacting guests, and organising cleaning services.

Additionally, the operations team provides comprehensive training and guidance to franchise partners, offering support at every stage of the process.

On average, franchisees earn 20% of each booking, providing them with a lucrative opportunity. In the UK, Pass the Keys have already partnered with over 80 entrepreneurs who have chosen to become their own bosses. Remarkably, more than 30% of them generate over £100k per year, and 15% earn over £200k, all within a span of three years or less. In Spain, the company currently has franchise partners in Ibiza, Orihuela, Valencia, and Marbella. To ensure their success, Pass the Keys has two dedicated team members based in Spain: Partner Account Manager Sonia Compagnet and Pilar Orti, the Marketing Manager. They provide ongoing support and guidance to partners, ensuring their businesses thrive. Pass the Keys is excited to continue expanding its franchise network in Spain, and they welcome

motivated individuals who are eager to join the successful team.

The company’s objective is to establish itself as the leading global full-service short-let management company.

Spain, with its substantial expat population and abundance of British-owned holiday homes, presents a market with immense demand. In the past year alone, Spanish Hosts have experienced an average net rent increase of 180% in the short-let market compared to what they would have earned in the long-let market. Pass the Keys’ cutting-edge technology is accessible from any location worldwide. The management of a significant number of properties across various platforms, along with the coordination of numerous guests, clients, and contractors, necessitates a level of system and technological investment that sets them apart from many of their competitors.

For those interested, visit the website franchise.passthekeys.com/es to access the prospectus and schedule a call.

https://franchise.passthekeys.com/es/

From page 15

Designer villas

The charming mountain town is seeing 53 ‘Lamborghini’ villas going up on the Tierra Viva estate.

The homes, linked to the aspiration Italian sports car brand, are selling from €3.2.million. Finally, just a hop and skip up the coast towards Sotogrande, you will find yet another global fashion brand getting in on the act.

Within the grounds of the five-star Finca Cortesin hotel, in Casares, developers Dar Global have launched Marea by Missoni, a series of apartments starting from around €885,000. The incredible upscale hotel, where numerous celebrities stay, including Gareth Bale and Guns & Roses, has just held the prestigious Solheim Cup of women’s golf.

3% comission for sellers!

VillaMia, established over 15 years ago, offers the complete property service. With an office in Jávea we cover sales, long term rentals, winter lets and property management in the coastal towns of Jávea, Moraira, Denia and the surrounding areas.

We have a multilingual, hard-working and friendly team. We use our knowledge, experience and dedication to find you your perfect home with the best service in the area!

exclusivity and free professional photography and matterport videos.

Lovely Spanish style four-bed villa, on a 720m2 plot, walking distance to the Arenal and amenities. This south-facing villa has a pool, garage and further renovation potential.

This stunning, completely reformed three-bed apartment is only 600 meters from the Arenal. Communal pool and parking.

The sunny side of life

Dreams on the shores of the Mediterranean. Dreams we tailor-made. Dreams you can relive over and over again. Live life, dream awake.

ers, who has been working on the case since 2018 and helped convict Brueckner of the rape of American Diane Menkes three years ago.

He was suddenly faced with seeing hundreds of files of evidence sent to the Saxony-Anhalt region.

Worse, it was clear that frustrations were growing among a number of the key witnesses.

As the torturous procedure slowed up even further, one former friend of Brueckner’s, Helge Busching, was said to be ‘considering retracting his evidence’ last month.

It led to a deluge of attacks on the German police and judiciary, with ‘sources’ in Portugal labelling Busching, Helge ‘Bullsh*tter’.

The so-called ‘police sources’ (I’m

sure this is former Chief Inspector Gonzalo Amaral, who messed up the original Maddie investigation) claimed the whole case was flimsy and revolved around an alleged ‘confession’ Brueckner made to Helge in Spain in 2008. This admittance of involvement came during the Dragon Festival, in Orgiva, near Granada, where Buschingalong with many of Brueckner’s friendslived for many years. Busching told German media, in July, that Brueckner had

ACTUAL HOME: Clarke outside Brueckner’s Braunschweig kiosk

told him clearly: “She didn’t scream.”

He added the sex offender had got through the front door of her apartment in Praia da Luz using a ‘lock pick kit’ and may well have used a solvent from car paint to knock her out.

But now, after spending four years in Germany’s witness protection scheme, Busching has reportedly grown fed up with keeping his life on hold and is now ‘refusing’ to testify.

This however, is ‘totally untrue’, according to prosecutor Wolters, who told me last week that under German law his testimony ‘still stands’ and he will ‘have to appear in court’.

be in the early part of 2024.”

The calm and unflappable man, with decades of experience prosecuting serious crime, had successfully argued that Brueckner had last lived in Braunschweig, where he ran a kiosk/bar (above) and lived above it, while also renting an allotment home nearby. He also proved he had never applied for electricity or water at the deserted Saxony-Anhalt factory, nor had he put himself on the electoral roll there.

is celebrating the roaring success of its brand new GERMAN edition on the Costa del Sol.

The leading expat newspaper is now offering its brand of exclusive stories and original content to the millions of German speakers who live in – or like to visit – Andalucia.

It follows seven successive years of expansion that have seen the newspaper launch fortnightly editions in Gibraltar, Mallorca and along the Costa Blanca north and south.

The latest addition is the first ever FREE German newspaper on the coast, and can be found at all good outlets, including hotels, restaurants, golf courses, petrol stations and supermarkets.

The first edition last month was met with praise after being dropped at more than 750 locations.

“It looks great and has the usual interesting varied mix of content of the main English paper,” said Karen Wolfson, of leading restaurant company Metro Group.

Proud

“We are proud to have Nomad Restaurant in Aloha on the cover.”

Silvia Jensen-Lindemann, owner of leading construction company Grupo Protec added: “It looks really good, I’m sure we’ll be using it. I like it a lot!”

Meanwhile Karl Elschner, of estate agency Melrose, based in Estepona, added: “It’s a great new addition for the expat German market.”

German-speaker Paul Whitelock, whose wife is from North Rhine Westphalia, was really surprised when he found a copy in the Ronda tourist office.

“Well done. My wife really liked the Lorca piece (below), while I was very impressed with the balance of news stories and features.”

The former schools inspector, who lives in Montejaque, also posted an appraisal on popular website, Eye on Spain, adding: “I am fluent in German and I can assure potential readers it is done by native German speakers.”

The venture came about after a German family picked up a copy of our English edition this Spring and, insisted, it needed

It has not all been an unbridled success in conservation efforts to return majestic, long-extinct birds of prey to Spain, however. A program to reintroduce the endangered Bearded Vulture to the Maestrazgo area of southeast Aragon has been halted over concerns about proposals for a massive new windfarm in the area.

There are fears that wind turbines, numbering over 100 with some reaching 150 metres in height, could spring up directly in routes known to be favoured by existing bearded vultures in Spain. Windfarms already in the Aragon and Navarra area extracted a harrowing toll on various bird species between 2020 and 2022, according to conservation experts. This includes 1,387 Griffon Vultures, six Egyptian Vultures, 30 Golden Eagles, 58 Short-Toed Snake Eagles, and 76 Red Kites killed. Thankfully Bearded Vulture numbers have already rebounded, with more than 200 pairs, in no small part due to a conservation and reintroduction program initiated 40 years ago.

Speaking to the Olive Press just days after a higher court ruled the cases would finally be heard in Braunschweig, he added: “We have all the evidence we need to prosecute him over the five sex offences and I hope the court agrees with our arguments.

“It should be a formality and I hope we will get a date in the next week or two. It should

THE FIVE SEX CRIMES BRUECKNER IS FACING:

● Rape of Hazel Behan in Portimao in 2004

● Sexual assault of Joana Eilts on Zalema beach in April 2007

● Exposure to four children in Sao Bartolomeu de Messines, in June 2017

● Rape of a teenager - between 16 to 19 - filmed on video on the Algarve between 2000 and 2007

● Rape of an older woman - between 50 and 60 - filmed on video on the Algarve between 2000 and 2007

And most importantly, I can reveal, he discovered that Brueckner himself had actually applied for state benefits, via an address in Braunschweig, as recently as 2017.

As he explained to the Olive Press: “It’s been a long process to slow up the case by his lawyers, which has been upsetting for everyone, not helped by the amount of paperwork and the summer break.

“I’ve never seen a case like this and it has personally been very frustrating.”

While he refused to speculate on the exact month for the trial - because there are other suspects on remand, whose trials ‘must come first’ - he added a trial over missing Maddie probably wouldn’t be set until next year.

“We haven’t finished investigating yet and we need a bit more time,” he explained last week.

So it is now all up to the new female judge at Braunschweig court to set her diary for 2024. Either way she is likely facing two trials of the century next year!

Olive Press editor

Jon Clarke is the author of My Search for Madeleine

They immediately contacted publisher Jon Clarke to broach the idea of a similar product for the German market and voila, the Olive Press Aleman Clarke said: “They insisted that while Germans can speak English and read it, they are so much happier doing it in their own language.

“They insisted it was a no brainer and with all the Austrians and Swiss moving here now I agreed.”

He added: “I was delighted when the launch issue came out looking so great, even if I couldn’t understand it!

“Thanks so much to all the advertisers who have queued up to support it.”

HOME?: Maddie suspect Brueckner claims this was his residence

Waldrappteam Conservation and Research/L Kern

SHELL SHOCK

Unexpected boom of loggerhead turtles nesting on Spanish beaches driven by climate change

AN unexpected surge in loggerhead turtles nesting along the beaches of Spain is driven by climate change, conservationists believe.

This summer, 27 nests have been recorded, marking the highest number since the first loggerhead turtle nest was documented on the Spanish coast back in 2001. This year there have been 10 nests recorded in Catalunya, eight in Valencia, two in Murcia, two in Andalucia and five in the Balearic Islands. This compares to a total of just 38 nests in Spain and the Balearics between 2010 and 2022. This unusual nesting behaviour has been called a crucial development for tur-

Salt flats push

TORREVIEJA’S mayor wants plans for a new hydrotherapy centre by the salt flats at the city’s Natural Park to go ahead as soon as possible.

Eduardo Dolon last week met with Valencian environment secretary, Javier Sendra, to speed up the approval process.

As the proposed facilities are on Natural Park land, it is up to Valencian authorities to give any green light for changes.

Old buildings will be restored as a museum while new controlled bathing areas would be created. Dolon said the plans are ‘fully respectful of the natural environment, which will also solve the problem of uncontrolled access to the park in order to bathe in the salt lagoon, an activity not permitted by current regulations’.

MURDER BUG

THRIVING: Loggerhead Turtles

By Walter Finch

tle conservation and renewed efforts are underway to safeguard the creatures at every stage of their life cycle. The loggerhead turtle has been classified as ‘vulnerable’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List with a declining global population trend.

Warmer waters and beaches in the western Mediterranean have attracted female logger heads to the shores of Spain to lay their eggs; from Andalucia to Catalunya. Scientists suspect this is be cause of historically warmer sand temperatures that are perfect for incubating the eggs. Sand temperature records from 1950 to 2019 reveal that thermal conditions suitable

But with many of the sites being on busy tourist beaches, special measures such as 24 hour guards being put on sites have been needed to safeguard the eggs and hatchlings.

SPAIN is losing its decade-long war on the Asian Hornet - sometimes known as the ‘murThe vespa velutina, first arrived in Spain from France in 2010, when 17 nests of the invasive insect were detected in Galicia. Fast forward to 2022, and there were 22,200.

And they do live up to their nickname. They killed a 54-year-old beekeeper in May 2020 when one stung him in the eyebrow.

That same month, a 73-year-old man died after a swarm attacked while spending a day out in the countryside with his wife.

THE YOUNG ARE RIGHT

ADULTS don’t always know best. I read with interest last week about a group of six young people from neighbouring Portugal who have issued legal proceedings against 32 countries.

They rightly accuse these countries of taking insufficient action over climate change and that they have failed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions as they committed to do when they signed up to the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5C. Their basis for the legal action, filed at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, is that their fundamental human rights have been violated. Governments’ reluctance to effectively combat climate change directly impacts on the right to life, privacy, family life and to be free from discrimination .

Forest fires that have plagued Portugal in the last six years are a direct result of global warming they claim. The extreme heat has had a major impact on their lives – being forced to spend more time indoors, sleep deprivation, inability to concentrate or exercise, an increase in eco-anxiety in the younger generation, and harmful health implications (more

allergies and respiratory conditions).

I think they are right. Hats off for initiative. They are not doing it for money. They are genuinely worried. One of the claimants, Mariana Duarte Agostinho, who is 11-years-old, still gets frightened at the sound of a helicopter flying overhead. It takes her back to 2017 when more than 50,000 acres of forest was raised to the ground and their family home was covered in ashes.

“I want a green world without pollution, I want to be healthy” says the youngster. “I’m really worried about my future. I’m afraid of what the place where we live will look like.”

Hard to argue against that. She’s completely right. If only politicians listened and acted. And talking of politicians……..

GORDON IS A MORON

So sang the British band Jilted John back in 1978. That chorus line always came to mind when I saw ex British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the television .

Not so now. My opinion is changing.

Last week he rightly accused world leaders of coming up ‘abysmally short’ in their efforts to lower carbon emissions. Strangely, the same words were used by the head of the United Nations recently. Brown has a cunning plan. He thinks that the world’s richest oil states should pay a windfall tax to help poorer nations combat climate change. As oil prices soared they raked in fortunes.

Next month COP28 takes place in oil-rich Dubai. It’ll be interesting to see how that argument plays out. Don’t hold your breath.

Green Matters By Martin Tye

EX-PM: Gordon Brown

LA CULTURA

VAN FRIGHT!

Wreck dive

THE remains of a sunken ship, potentially a Spanish warship dating back to the 18th century, are being investigated by divers.

It is believed to be the El Fernando, which was constructed between 1750 and 1751, and historical records indicate it sank in 1760.

A team of nine archaeologists are analysing the remains off the coast of San Pedro Alcantara, (Marbella).

The study is focussed on identifying the wreck and assessing its condition.

It is located on a sandy and gravelly seabed at a depth ranging from four to seven metres.

Spanish family discover multimillion value Van Dyck painting had been hanging in their living room for DECADES

A SPANISH family were stunned to find a family heirloom was a genuine work by Baroque master painter, Anthony Van Dyck. The painting, ‘Presentation of the Baby Jesus to Saint Barbara’, is expected to be worth between €5 million and €13 million. According to their lawyer, the Jaen-based family had ‘no idea’ the painting was so valuable.

“They saw it as a part of their

ARCHAEOLOGISTS have made a momentous discovery at Valencia’s Cova Dones, caves, unearthing over 100 ancient paintings and engravings believed to be at least 24,000 years old.

This remarkable find is considered one of the most significant Palaeolithic cave art sites in Europe.

While Cova Dones has long been known to locals and frequented by hikers and explorers, the Palaeolithic paintings remained unnoticed until researchers from the universities of Zaragoza, Alicante, and Southampton studied the cave system.

Dr Aitor Ruiz-Redondo, Senior Lecturer of Prehistory at the University of Zaragoza, remarked: "When we saw the first painted auroch (wild bull) we

Just champion!

THE Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba has clinched the title of the most beautiful cathedral in Spain on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter

By Yzabelle Bostyn

daily lives,” revealed Luis Baena, this week, adding the family are not interested in money and their wish is the painting ‘goes to Sevilla’.

The family have had offers from auction houses worldwide, but have so far ignored the offers, hoping the Sevilla Museum of Fine Arts will make ‘a fair and reasonable offer’.

The painting is believed to

Ancient art

immediately realised it was important."

The study identifies 19 different types of animals, including stags, horses, aurochs, and deer. Ruiz-Redondo explained: "Animals and signs were depicted simply by dragging the fingers and palms covered with clay on the walls. The humid environment of the cave did the rest: the 'paintings' dried quite slowly, preventing parts of the clay from falling rapidly, while other parts were covered by calcite layers, which preserved them until today."

OP QUICK CROSSWORD

have arrived in Jaen during the 17th century when hundreds of Flemish families

The Relatando Historia profile (@RelatandoHistoria) on the X social network initiated the competition, structured like a football tournament akin to the Champions League, urging its followers to select the most beautiful cathedral on the platform.

After several weeks of voting, the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba has emerged as the victor over Sevilla Cathedral, securing the title of the 'Champions League' of Spanish cathedrals.

ANCIENT: Exploring Cova Dones

Across

1 Rugby Union’s --- Crown (6)

5 Charge (6)

8 Stronghold (8)

9 Fish eggs (3)

10 Distribute cards (4)

11 Parched (3-5)

13 Disorganised, easy-going clot is one for the ladies (13)

18 Slower than Mach 1 (8)

22 Retinal cells (4)

23 Female deer (3)

24 Towards sunrise (8)

25 Minister (6)

26 Literary ridicule (6)

Down

2 Avian canopy colony (7)

3 Kneecap (7)

4 Level pegging (5)

5 Club nicknamed “The Invincibles” in 2003-4 (7)

6 Insect stage (5)

7 They fly in skeins (5)

12 Colourful carp (3)

14 Arrest (3)

15 Link (7)

16 It’ll keep you in stitches (7)

17 Dr Slade shook up leather worker (7)

19 Below (5)

20 Explorer who named Lake Victoria (5)

21 Prices paid (5)

All solutions are on page 22

lived in Andalucia. Over four centuries later, the canvas had significant signs of wear and was restored by a team of Andalucian experts. Van Dyck was a leader of the so-called Baroque movement and is famed for his portraits of nobility and his biblical and mythological paintings. Although the Museum of Fine Art has stated their interest, the future of the masterpiece is not confirmed. It comes just a year after a British art historian discovered a painting he had bought for £60 was actually a Van Dyck. The owner of this painting also decided to donate the painting locally and it now hangs in the Cannon Hall Museum, Barnsley.

HEAT IS OFF!

Almost finished

BARCELONA'S Sagrada Familia, Antonio Gaudi’s famous yet incomplete landmark, is moving forward toward completion.

As of last week, five out of the six central towers have been fully constructed, and since January, when the towers of Luke and Mark were finished, two additional towers, dedicated to Matthew and John, have been crowned with statues by sculptor Xavier Medina-Campen.

The ambitious project has been under construction for over 140 years- attracting millions of visitors every year. Construction is planned to end in 2026- the centenary of Gaudi's death.

There is plenty to do in Valencia this month

THE SUMMER heat has retreated, leaving behind a refreshing cool breeze and plenty of autumn sun. Coming up - a special month for the

Get ready for Valencia Day

Fireworks galore on October 9 for Valencia Day! The region’s official holiday begins in earnest at midnight on the 8, with a spectacular fireworks display. There is an array of festivities and street parties the following day, and you might be interested in checking out a colourful procession that leads to a flower-laying ceremony at the statue of King Jaime I, who founded the kingdom of Valencia.

If the seasonal festivities are making you miss the cold weather and spooky Halloween traditions back home, this is the place to go to rub shoulders with a like-minded crowd.

The International Halloween Festival brings together a global crowd at Bowie Discotheque, one of the coolest clubs in Valencia with costumes and amazing Halloween hits.

By Sarah Gordon

region, with cele brations and festivals in Valencia, culminating in the spookiest time of the year.

PUT ON YOUR DAN CING SHOES

The fantastic street festival conFusión happens right in the bohemian Benimaclet neighbourhood. Embrace a warm welcome with studios opening up their doors to host photography exhibits, and people lining the streets to dance to DJ sets and live music, all free to attend on October 14 and 15.

Get ready for a spooky night out

If you want to hear scary stories and lurid tales, follow the Valencia Ghost Walking Tour

for extra creepiness - it’s absolutely free and is led by an experienced local guide.

DON’T MISS:

The first cut of honeycomb at Ayora’s first-ever honey festival on October 15. One of the more unique festivals in Valencia brings you closer to the world of beekeeping, with tasty treats, fun for the kids and an opportunity to see fascinating demonstrations.

Date for the diary

Just down the coast in Gandia, a fascinating exhibition of animated short films at the Cartoons Festival starting October 19.

If you’re interested in reading more about unique experiences and city breaks in Valencia, check out Valencia.Style

WORTH MILLIONS: But family want painting in Sevilla

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Shakira shaking!

SINGING superstar expat Shakira is facing a new fraud probe in Spain.

The Colombian sensation allegedly evaded another €6 million from the taxman in 2018.

This is in addition to the €14.5 million tax she is accused of illegally avoiding in her early years in Spain.

The new allegations include the ‘fake’ transfer of her music rights to a ‘web of firms’, which allegedly turned out to be shell companies

with no employees. The fraud includes €5.3 million of income tax (known as IRPF in Spanish) as well as another €700,000 in capital gains tax.

The public prosecutor has called on Interpol to advise the singer in the United States where she has lived since moving there with her children.

She previously lived in Barcelona, where she lived with her ex former FC Barcelona football player Gerard Pique.

PURSE FRIENDLY

A MAJOR study has revealed the cheapest supermarkets in Spain.

The OCU, a leading consumer organisation, priced up the average shopping basket filled with everyday goods in more than 1,100 stores across the country. As it does every year, it visited 65 Spanish cities, including all the provincial capitals and large towns, and recorded a to -

Cheapest supermarkets for a weekly shop revealed

tal of 155,788 prices to discover which chains were the cheapest. At the national level, that title has gone to Family Cash, followed closely by Alcampo. Family Cash has around 40 stores spread across Andalucia, Valencia and Madrid, and the average

SUPERMARKET SWEEP: Prices have increased drastically

shop there will cost you €103. Meanwhile at Alcampo, which has more than 500

stores across Spain, it will set you back €104. The cheapest local chain is Dani, which is found

BACK IN BUSINESS

VALENCIA'S oldest market has finally returned after being closed for five years.

Located near the port on the Plaza del Mercado Neuvo, the Grau Market started trading in 1916. It has seen €2.8 million in renovations, which should have taken just 12 months, but a combination of the Covid pandemic and structural issues led to the long delay.

The old facade has been replaced by a large stained glass window that now surrounds the entire area. In addition, the roofs have been renovated with flat tiles and stone pavements are the platform for public spaces and the market stalls

Construction lasted for three years to eventually create Valencia's first specifically-designed mixture of market stalls and restaurants.

The market has 24 stalls, 10 of whichhave been allocated. A fresh auction of pitches will happen in December. A variety of food and vegetable products are being sold, and the site has a grocery store, a delicatessen, a bar, and a cafeteria, as well as multi-purpose rooms for local associations and groups.

OP Puzzle solutions

Quick Crossword

Across: 1 Triple, 5 Allege, 8 Fortress, 9 Roe, 10 Deal, 11 Sun-baked, 13 Gynaecologist, 18 Subsonic, 22 Rods, 23 Doe, 24 Easterly, 25 Priest, 26 Satire.

Down: 2 Rookery, 3 Patella, 4 Evens, 5 Arsenal, 6 Larva, 7 Geese, 12 Koi, 14 Nab, 15 Connect, 16 Garment, 17 Saddler, 19 Under, 20 Speke, 21 Costs.

in Andalucia, including along the Costa del Sol. The OCU basket there cost €100.

According to the data collected, every single chain has increased their prices by between eight and 17%. The report explains: “E Leclerc, Supeco, Carrefour Express and BM Urban are the chains that have increased the most, by more than 15%.

“On the contrary, Eroski and Eroski City and the Masymas chains have increased the least, remaining below 10%.”

On average, the cheapest cities to get your shopping are Cordoba and Teruel, followed by Burgos, Cadiz, Castellon, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Jerez, Lugo, Palencia, Vigo and Zamora. The highest prices in Spain are in Las Palmas in Gran Canaria, followed by Madrid, Palma de Mallorca and Getxo.

Eclectic eclipses

SPAIN is to be treated to not one but two eclipses this autumn. A partial solar eclipse will darken skies on October 14, while a partial lunar eclipse will strike on October 28.

Have a car

A YOUTH who went viral after making a TikTok extolling the virtues of working 15 hours a day to feed his family sparked an inequality debate when he was gifted a free car by a wealthy Malaga CEO.

Doggy train

A SPECIAL big dog service has transported 1,800 hounds weighing up to 40kg on the Renfe this year.

O P LIVE RESS

IN FOR A PENNY

A clip shared on Instagram shows the individual pedalling past the Milla de Plata boutique hotel, near Sotogrande on the Costa del Sol.

The footage was recorded by a father and son, who had parked their car on the side of the road

By Laurence Dollimore

opposite the hotel.

Another image of the cyclist appeared to show him travelling up a steep hill.

The images have left social media users in stitches, with ‘obsessed’ spectators demanding to know his backstory. However others questioned if

Ibiza send off

AN unrepentant British woman has been on the end of an online backlash after she spread her brother’s ashes among a sea of revellers at an Ibiza pool party. The Scot was fulfilling her brother’s last wishes at a music festival taking place at Ushuaïa Ibiza.

In a brief seven-second clip on social media that quickly went viral, the woman can be seen calf-deep in the pool, dancing to the music before scattering the contents of a small container in the water.

the centuries-old technology was legal to ride, particularly on the N-340 coastal road. One viewer insisted it was legal ‘even though it was suicide’, adding: “It is absolutely crazy what he is doing, but as far as I know, he can legally do it.” The penny-farthing was popular in the 1870s and 1880s but soon became obsolete. Its name comes from old British currency, in which a ‘penny’ was much larger than a ‘farthing’. Hence from the side, the huge front wheel resembles a penny leading a small farthing (the back wheel).

Long arm of the claw

KILLING a rat could see you end up in jail for 18 months under Spain’s new animal cruelty crackdown. Under the regulations that came in at the start of the month, rats will enjoy protection from cruelty on the basis that they are vertebrates. Killing one could land you anywhere between six and 18 months behind bars.

But there is a loophole. If killing the creature is considered to be self-defence, or the perpetrator of the foul deed has a phobia, then they can get away with the ‘crime’ scot free. And professional pest controllers have an exception. In the case of rats, each case would depend on common sense and the circumstances would be taken into account by any judge.

Drone’s the limit

A TOURIST could face a fine of up to €225,000 after he crashed a drone into Cordoba’s historic cathedral. Police were called in after the broken remains of the small remote-controlled flying machine were found in the famous Patio de los Naranjos courtyard at the UNE-

SCO heritage site. They discovered that the dronepiloted by a foreign tourist - had crashed into the cathedral tower but caused no damage. Flying drones around the Mosque-Cathedral is not permitted. It is unlikely he will face the full mega fine, with penalties for unauthorised flying of drones starting at €60.

THIS is the bizarre moment a man was seen riding a penny farthing bike along a major road.