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VANISH 17 www. theolivepres s.es
November 7th -
November 20th,
2019
ED!
A DANG could seeEROUS lurch to Vox party Spain’s anti-imthe right ers in this becoming the migrant kingm weekend’s tion. general akelecThe massi the recent ve surge - off of Islam Catalan crisisthe back of ing 15% - could see the and a fear EXCL of the seats party The expec By JoshuUSIVE in Parlia seizment. a Parfit damage ted gains will t centre-right seriously POLICE which could lose over Ciudadanos, have beenon the Costa while the half Blanc slamm Podemos ruling PSOE and its seats, allowed a confused ed after theya are also left fer. tated Britis expected wing and to sufh great- disorienVox, which to walk grand has Spain from pledged into the out of a police father dead of station ed to finish immigrants, to ‘defend’ The famil night y of pensi alone. fourth gener third in the is predictPearc count oner Philip e, 68, are al electio ry’s years. n in as many swers from demanding The latest why he was Benidorm police anby Santia polling suggests releas over ber ed on Septe 10, at its 24 seatsgo Abascal, will Vox, led mThey now 3am. increa in Spain liament ’s 350-seat se to 46. has been fear for his life parmissi after
Duty of care clai police stat ms ion at 3amafter missing in clearly British gre at-g disorien ted stat randfather wa e s allowed to leave
ng for an he two mont alarming And in a hs. shock
Fail
ed ing Meanwhile British Consulate,email from the Albert dadanos Olive Press Rivera’s seen by Ciu14. In thewill be reduced the suggestions this week, gain 14% 40dB poll Voxfrom 57 to of a breac there are of care. of the vote, is set h of duty PP in secon The officia alongside to d place with 91 seats the pensioner l email revea and the 21.2% and with 27.3% PSOE comin had clearl ls the he ‘did g first not remem y told police DISAPPEA The PSOEand 121 votes. was stayin RED: ber where (above would see ’s predicted g’ nor where right) thePhilip Pearc he from the victor in party with seats than England. y last pictu e enjoying he was The consu a drink re of the prompting in April’s last two less pensioner (above), while Philip waslate email also election, another leader Pedro He was in Alica headache stated carryi having passp nte Airpo for its ng neith form a governSanchez as ort until rt he tries he was nor his walle er his hotel he left his a good holiday ment. to taken Playa spent t when at
Press they individual ‘do not comm A Polici cases’ such as ent on Philip’s. claimed a Nacional spoke scrambled‘helicopters’ had sman to searc been various Benidorm h for Philip on However, hillsid 5.30p by a stran Benidorm’s Levan ‘four questions they failed to es. ger to to buy cigare m on September te day scour to five’ hours Polici answe about the tion in ing aband ttes every of his releas 9 the Old a Nacional sta- his bearin exact detail r oned midnight, Town just e gs and before he lost ings and travel s police. around the ler comm build- whether sniffefrom the statio was taken as CCTV firms. n or r dogs and unitie footage after searc Costa to “I even hes s conHowever, sent my Blanca. would be had been deploground GoPro came dog out soon. yed or and why what is not clear bush and ra to search with a the statio he was allowed is how Two mont Wallet in every Have you in every n three hours to leave ive hs on, Lee we’ve found corner, seen Phili “The police Press told but in touch at news p? Get are simpl later. swering search anda request for ‘a the Ol- ing,” McQueen noththeolivepr desk@ y our not groun sniffe said. questions,” ess.es an- unans Pearce, d “I’ve r son Lee left wered, whiledogs’ has gone driver got 130 taxi last night41, told the Olive s who the searching . Press “We for answefamily are at 4am and start “It’s absol just rs. need closu finish at 2am, for us as utely gut-w er my dad re on but where he a family, not renching Lee said. is still alive wheth- the hotels none of and esor not,” tablis is and why knowing “But peared. hmen apart he disap seen a sign ts have “I just want - sent out from claiming of Philmiss him him home so the police some drones to have ip.” to look, The badly. I anyth don’t seem Philip wasso much.” ing to be doing spent family has from the known to be It comes at all.” weeks as score ting up puttia, but early signs ofsuffering idents have s of Britis h res- handi posters and spent when hewas ‘happy and demen- ing for signs of weeks search- of his ng out flyers friend andleft for Alican smiling’ ther-of-thre missing the grand te with father travelling around e. faOwne a partner. r of Alican with contaBenidorm David McQu Find out te ct detail een, saidTransfers, A spokeswom s. eating what’s he has the Britis an for ate told h ConsulPaul Holl Tel. (+34) 96 649 18 the Olive ywood 29 info@h
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UK’s Foreign Office call centre thought British dementia sufferer in late 60s was ‘drunk’ in the crucial hours before his death SPEECHLESS: Lee (inset) can’t understand why dad Philip (right with a pal) was allowed to go
The million fines that shame Spain Page 6
ETA terrorist behind Page 9 Killing Eve
EXCLUSIVE By Joshua Parfitt
THE British Foreign Office (FCO) thought a British holidaymaker suffering dementia on the Costa Blanca was ‘drunk’ and just needed to ‘sober up’, the Olive Press can reveal. A Freedom of Information request concerning the death of British grandfather Philip Pearce, 68, shows the FCO’s emergency contact centre believed he was ‘not vulnerable’ just hours before his death in a ditch in Benidorm. Documents seen by the Olive Press show Spanish cops telephoned a Malaga-based call centre asking for assistance with Philip, who had lost his bearings after going out for ‘cig-
arettes’. He had been taken to the station around 10pm on September 9, last year, by a concerned British tourist who spotted Philip in a ‘disoriented state’. Police asked a consular contact centre assistant what to do with Philip, who did not speak Spanish, and whether the FCO could figure out where his hotel was. But an internal FCO report reveals Philip, from Bridgwater, in Somerset, told the FCO officer he ‘couldn’t remember where he was staying’. Furthermore, he couldn’t even remember ‘where he lived in the UK’. Making matters worse, it was during the horrific ‘gota fria’ storms, which saw temperature highs of 28 de-
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grees followed by torrential rainfall and flooding. As the Olive Press revealed in a front page story in November, Philip was believed to suffer a sudden onset of vascular dementia, perhaps brought on by the weather, and was not well. Yet, incredibly, Benidorm Police let Philip leave the station at 3am on September 10, leading to his son Lee Pearce, 41, to insist the Spanish police had ‘failed’ in their duty to protect him.. “But I think in that phone call the FCO had the power to keep Dad alive,” Lee told the Olive Press this week. An internal email seen by the Olive Press shows clearly that he was not well, with a consular official confirming in the following days that he ‘kept saying he was in England’ and had ‘no clue’ he was in Spain’ during that fateful phone call. Despite these signs of senility, a spokesperson for the FCO told the Olive Press they were ‘not made aware that Mr Pearce was vulnerable’. An internal report on Philip, a former joiner, just says ‘Police will hold onto [Philip] until he sobers up’. Philip’s later disappearance made headlines in the UK and Spain, until he was identified in February from a ‘severely decomposed’ corpse found just 2km from the police station. The corpse carried the same amount of money as when Philip was registered in the station, a death certificate revealed. Philip’s son, Lee, told the Olive Press: “It leaves me speechless how
a 68-year-old man with clear signs of dementia was let go in the worst storm for 100 years. “You wouldn’t let your own dog out in that weather. “I believe that had the authorities realised my dad was not drunk, but had got dementia, he would still be with us.” A spokesperson for the FCO maintained that Philip was the ‘responsibility’ of the Spanish authorities. “We class a British national as vulnerable if they cannot protect themselves from significant physical or emotional harm, or be protected by others,” he said. “Our Global Response Centre provides emergency support to British nationals globally when embassies and consulates are closed. “Mr Pearce was with the Spanish authorities, who were best placed to provide assistance, and we were not made aware by them that Mr Pearce may be vulnerable.” An FCO spokesperson said staff have access to ‘detailed guidance and training on a wide range of issues, including mental health and mental capacity’. Despite this, there are zero guidelines for dementia patients abroad on the FCO’s website. It comes as Philip’s body will be buried in Bridgwater today (May 28), with just a maximum of 10 people due to the coronavirus pandemic. A report from the UK’s Alzheimer’s Society this year also revealed emergency dementia admissions to UK hospitals are up 35% in the last five years. Opinion Page 6