Criminals on the Costa

I was watching Crimewatch onBBC last night to see if I was appearing on it...actually I was watching it because there wasn't a lot else on and I hadn't watched the programme in years.

I mention this because one of the "criminals" that was featured on there was believed to have left the UK for Spain to run away from his crimes. This is one of those things that is often talked about privately but no one talks about publicly...here I go again (I'm already in enough trouble for saying the mayor here is "camp").

I saw this again when reading "El Sur in English" newspaper (about criminals in Spain not camp mayors) . On the front page is a photo of Tony King (originally Tony Bromwich the "Holloway Strangler"). Tony King was recently jailed for the murder of a young girl from Coin and is now in court on trial for the murder of another Spanish woman. He'd already been in prison in the UK for several offences. His trial is being covered extensively in the Spanish media.

Now, this doesn't really bode well for anglo-hispanic relations really. I hate to say it but the Spanish are a bit p*ssed off already with the "invasion" of the English (primarily), I have picked up on this myself various times. And when you get such high profile cases such as Tony King in court for murdering Spanish girls it really doesn't help.

But I don't think it's a big secret that the coasts here are scattered with criminals from other countries escaping justice, many from Britain. In fact, Crimestoppers recently opened up a hotline number to call to help capture British criminals on the Costa del Sol.

Sometimes I wonder if the biggest criminals from Britain are hiding out here. Are they people I talk to? One thing I have learnt over the past couple of years is that you can't trust anyone. There are too many "desperate" people around and you're never quite sure who you're befriending.

I think you have to be much more careful here whom you make friends with than you would back home. It's just one of those sad facts.