David and Victoria Beckham can't sell their mansion in Madrid dropped the asking price to £3m

David and Victoria Beckham can't sell their mansion in Madrid. The Beckhams have been trying to sell their luxury villa for 17 months but have yet to find a buyer.
The Beckhams' five bedroom villa in Madrid was put on the market last year when they left Spain for the US, according to the Daily Star.Posh and Becks were asking £5m for their property, dubbed 'Casa Beckham', but there have been no offers. As a result they have dropped the asking price to £3m."The house is incredible, but the market is in such a terrible state right now and the Beckhams have had no offers....They're going to have to take a lot less than the original price to have a realistic chance of selling the house," a source told the paper.The Madrid mansion is set in two acres and has an outdoor heated swimming pool, tennis courts, a small football pitch and a play area. The property is located in the suburb of La Moraleja.
The Beckhams paid £4.5m for the villa in May 2005 and spent £500,000 refurbishing it. The home was put up for sale when David signed a £125m contract with football team LA Galaxy."It's a lovely place with lots of charm, beautifully and tastefully decorated," the source continued."But even the super rich have been hit hard by the credit crunch."

Car Bomb Explodes AT Spains Navarra University in Pamplona

Car Bomb Explodes AT Spains Navarra University in Pamplona
The explosion happened at 10:58am this morning after a phone warning in the name of ETA an hour beforehand. There has been a car bomb explosion at Navarra University in Pamplona this morning. The device exploded at 1058am in the car park near the library, and set fire to five other cars nearby and also to a nearby building.Several people are reported to be slightly injured from flying glass

Spanish mortgage market has continued to take a battering this week

Spanish mortgage market has continued to take a battering this week after the Spanish Housing Association announced that the number of mortgage transactions has continued to fall.The number of house transactions in August fell by 36 percent compared to last year, which signalled that the situation is getting worse. Spain’s initial housing boom a decade ago meant that the economy was able to grow at the fastest rate in the euro zone. However in the aftermath of the financial crisis, the housing collapse that has ensued has taken the property market and the economy down too.As a result of its sudden demise, unemployment is now at a European-Union high of 11.3 percent in this quarter with the fear that Spain could now be the latest country that is deemed to be in recession.

Marbella Casino theft arrests

The man then admitted involvement in a theft from Marbella Casino. A Málaga man, named with the initials A.J.R.E. has been arrested in connection with a robbery at the Casino in Marbella. The man went to the police station to renew his D.N.I. identity card, but as the official keyed in his data his named was flagged as he was wanted for questioning. He soon found himself in the cells and confessed to his involvement in the crime. It’s not as strange an occurrence as you may think. National Police say they arrested another man on the same day in the same circumstances.

San Miguel Local Police and Guardia Civil were deployed

San Miguel Local Police and Guardia Civil were deployed on Wednesday to the football field in La Centinela to stop rival gangs from Arona and San Miguel having a full street fight. One of the gangs comprised more than 30 youths, some only children, armed with iron bars and clubs.Apparently, there was "history" between the two gangs and following an encounter about a month ago, scores were to be settled. Gang "members" were convoked to the event by mobile telephone.On this occasion there were no arrests, but several of the apparent leaders' details were taken in case there is a recurrence of the event ... which is likely, because scores are still not settled.

54,000 newly built homes in Málaga province which remain unsold on the market.

latest study from the Ministry for Housing shows that there are 54,000 newly built homes in Málaga province which remain unsold on the market.
Local promoters however doubt the number, which they say is closer to 25,000.The regional government, the Junta de Andalucía, has plans which will convert some of the empty homes into VPO assisted housing, but this is proving to be practically impossible in practice. The promoters say that the requirements for eligibility for the VPO plan need to be relaxed.It comes as forecasts for the local economy as a whole will see growth next year of 0.6%, compared with just under 2% for this, and will not create any new employment. Economic analysts from the Unicaja Group, said that there will be a fall in production in the province next year, and the economy will see no real recovery in 2010 either.

Body of a 44-year-old English man was found in a dried-up river bed near Órgiva

Body of a 44-year-old English man resident in Molvízar (Granada), who was reported missing by his family several days ago, was found in a dried-up river bed near Órgiva yesterday. An autopsy will be performed today, but it seems, at this stage, that investigators are not ruling out the possibility that the man may have taken his own life as his van was found abandoned nearby. A Guardia Civil mountain rescue team was called in to recover the body, which was found at the foot of a very high bridge on the N-323 freeway.

Thousands of Spaniards and hundreds of foreigners fear seeing their seaside residences seized by the state in an attempt to protect the coastline

Thousands of Spaniards and hundreds of foreigners fear seeing their seaside residences seized by the state in an attempt to protect the coastline from urbanisation and pollution, the daily El Pais reported Monday. The government has stepped up the 1988 law prohibiting the construction of housing near the coastline, according to the daily. The government is now nationalising such houses, although owners are granted the right to use them for up to 60 years. The measures can also affect houses which were built before the law went into force.
Britain and Germany, where most of the affected foreigners are from, are in touch with the Spanish authorities to protest over the expropriations, El Pais said.
Germany has requested information from Spain, diplomatic sources confirmed. Some of the affected property owners have lodged complaints with a Spanish ombudsman or at the European Parliament. The Spanish government has, however, won the vast majority of court cases over the law, sources of the environment ministry were quoted as saying. Environmentalists have long been concerned about the impact of urbanisation on Spain's coastline.

Kevin Russell Hawkes, drowned on the Carvajal beach in Fuengirola

Kevin Russell Hawkes, drowned on the Carvajal beach in Fuengirola . Health workers tried in vain to reanimate the man as his recently married wife urged them to continue with their efforts. The Briton had decided to take a swim at 4,15pm yesterday despite the large waves seen on the beach at the time and reports say he was soon in difficulties some 50m from the shore. A group of surfers were the only people on the beach who could help, but by the time they reached the man he was unconscious.The couple was staying with a group of friends in the Gardenia hotel in the town and were on their honeymoon.

REDUCTION of illegal homes in Marbella under threat of demolition from 700 to 500

Mayor of Marbella, Angeles Muñoz, and the regional government in Seville have agreed to legalize, in the new town plan, another 200 properties that were formerly earmarked for demolition. This reduces the number of illegal homes in Marbella under threat of demolition from 700 to 500. Now included in Marbella’s new town plan - effectively a massive planning amnesty for some 19,000 properties illegally built over the last few decades - is the Jardines del Príncipe development of 81 apartments located on Marbella’s Golden Mile. The development was over-built by 40%, blocking the sea views of various neighboring properties, whose owners took legal action and obtained a demolition order for part of the development. Under the new agreement the promoter avoids having to demolish part of the development in return for ceding the bottom floor to the town hall. It’s a similar story with the Jardines de la Costa development in San Pedro, from the promoter José María Enriquez, implicated in the Operation Malaya corruption scandal. The development will be legalized in return for donating land to the town hall in a different part of the municipality. The decision to legalize 200 properties has been criticized by local politicians from the opposition Socialist Party. They claim it mainly benefits developers who took advantage of a corrupt town hall in the past.

In other news Average Spanish property prices rose by 0.4% over 12 months to the end of September, but fell by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Housing. Taking into account consumer price inflation, which stood at 4.5% in September, the real cost of housing has fallen by 4.1% over the last 12 months. Newly built property prices rose by 1.7% over 12 months, but fell by 0.8% in the quarter. Resale or ‘second hand’ property, which the Ministry of Housing defines as more than 2 years old, fell by 0.3% over 12 months, and by 1.7% in the quarter. According to Tinsa, 75,000 new properties were sold in the second quarter of the year, the equivalent of 41% of the number of homes finished in the period, which drove up the inventory of new homes to 680,000. Tinsa estimates there will no more than 300,000 transactions in all 2008, implying that the stock of unsold new homes will rise to 930,000 by year end.Tinsa expects the inventory of new homes to keep rising into 2009, as construction on current housing developments finishes, and that it will take at least 2 years for the market to digest the housing overhang. This very much falls in line in how we see things at Spanish Hot Properties said Managing Director Nick Stuart. “The fundamentals are still very much the same that it is a great time to sell and a terrible time to buy and only developer who are prepared to make drastic price reductions will sell there properties especially in the 1 and 2 bedroom apartment market and its still a very difficult market” Nick confirmed

Estepona corruption Carlos Barientos,charged with bribery and money laundering

Carlos Barientos,charged with bribery and money laundering. The ex Mayor has already been held on remand in prison for four months. His cousin Carlos told the judge on Tuesday about several municipal decisions in which alleged payments of backhanders are under investigation.The current councillor for beaches, Miguel Navarro, has now also been charged with perversion of the course of justice in the case.Statements were also taken from two local businessmen, Aurelio Martin Simón, President of Costa del Sol Hipermercardos, who manages a Carrefour store in the town and who is promoting a new commercial centre, touted to be the largest in Spain.Owner of the Publiluna company, Francisco Antonio Navarro, also now faces charges of perversion of the course of justice and money laundering.

Jacqueline Tennant, went missing a year ago whilst hiking in the north east of Mallorca.

Jacqueline Tennant, went missing a year ago whilst hiking in the north east of the Mallorca. Jacqueline, originally from Reading, had spent the summer working in the holiday resort of Ca’n Picafort and spent any of her free time and days off hiking round Mallorca. Just before midday on the day she went missing, she answered a mobile phone call from her resort manager, saying that she was almost at the top and that the view was fantastic. When she failed to turn up for work the following day, she was reported missing, but reaction from the security services was slow and her sister Monique flew to Palma to lead the search for her. Only recently she stated that she still has not given up hope of finding her sister one day. The two sisters had been due to fly to Jamaica to visit their father the week after Jacqueline disappeared. Their father has since died and never knew what had happened to his daughter.

10 million files of pornographic images of children siezed in Malaga

In Andalucia, 37 arrests have been carried out and, apart from the ten in Málaga, eight homes have been searched in Seville, two in Huelva, three in Almería, five in Cádiz, four in Granada and two in Jaén. 10 million files of pornographic images of children, which have been described by Guardia Civil officers as nauseating, have been seized from ten individuals who have been arrested in the province, in one of the biggest operations against child pornography ever carried out in the country. More than 120 individuals have been arrested so far. Those accused in Malaga were set free with charges after testifying before investigators and will be recalled by the legal authorities. Police sources stated that arrests in the province started four days ago, after the magistrate’s court number five in Madrid sent out formal requests and arrest orders to the corresponding courts and the Violent and Specialised Crime Unit (UDEV) of the Provincial Police Force. Researchers from this group have made seven arrests in the capital and also in Velez-Malaga, Antequera and Nerja, and have searched a dozen homes where huge quantities of child pornography have been seized. The individuals arrested belong to a wide range of social groups, from waiters to building workers or caretakers, making it difficult for investigators to describe an accurate or reliable offender profile.Some 800 national policemen have participated in this operation, 210 homes have been inspected in 42 provinces, and paedophile files containing what is described as extremely hard material have been seized.

Lauren Cullen, and her 14 year old daughter have died when crossing a flooded ravine in their car

Lauren Cullen, and her 14 year old daughter also called Lauren, have died when crossing a flooded ravine in their car at L’Olleria in Valencia.
When the two women saw they could not get across in their car, they tried on foot with two other British people who managed to survive.The tragedy happened at a place known as La Palmera at 8pm last night, and firemen recovered their bodies in the early hours of this morning some 1.5km away from where they had tried to cross the ‘barranco’.The storms in the Valencia area have dropped 60 litres of water per square metre in an hour, but more than 200 litres per square metre has fallen in the complete storm, causing flooding to tunnels, basements and garages in the city.

Briton Tony King, could not have acted alone

Mother of Rocio Wanninkhof, the youngster from Mijas Costa who was murdered in October 1999, has called for a new court case because she thinks that the man found guilty of killing of her daughter, the Briton Tony King, could not have acted alone.
The family lawyer has made an application to the Málaga Provincial Court to re-open the case, basing his arguments on the evidence from the case in which King was found guilty. King was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the case, but the Wanninkhof family considers that two people would have been needed to carry out the crime and move the body. Lawyer Marcos García-Montes explained that they were not looking for new evidence, only to determine once and for all their ‘single obsession’ if Dolores Vázquez took part in the crime or not.She is the woman who was a family friend, and had a lesbian relationship with Rocio’s mother and who was initially found guilty of the murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2001. Later that verdict was deemed as unsafe and overturned by the Andalucian High Court.

Cecilia Natalia Coria Olivares has died in Nerja after being stabbed 15 times by her former boyfriend

25-year-old Argentinean woman has died in Nerja after being stabbed 15 times by her former boyfriend, Hicham B. Cecilia Natalia Coria Olivares was attacked as she arrived for work in the town centre on Sunday morning.
The victim was a waitress in one of the cafés near the Church of San Salvador on the Balcón de Europa which is where her attacker surprised her at about 9.20 am as she was setting out tables on the terrace. He produced a large knife and stabbed her in the back puncturing a lung. As she tried to fend him off, she suffered additional injuries to her arms and was stabbed a total of 15 times. A passer-by took a chair from the café terrace and struck the man in an effort to stop him, at which point the assailant fled towards Plaza Cavana. Waiters and other staff from nearby businesses rushed to help the girl by using tablecloths to stem the blood flow. She was still alive and able to identify her aggressor, but the emergency services were unable to revive her and she died at the scene. Within a short time, the Guardia Civil arrested a 29-year-old Moroccan alleged to have been responsible and who is reported to have been under a court restraining order, prohibiting him from approaching the victim. The couple are reported to have ended a two-year relationship recently, since when he had been threatening her verbally and in text messages. Cecelia had reported her alleged killer to the police on three occasions, the last time the evening before she died, telling them that he had threatened her saying he was going to kill her “with a knife, a gun or the first thing he could find”. When asked by officers if she thought he would carry out his threat, she replied yes.

Spanish police interrupted the wedding banquet of a suspected drug trafficker, detaining him and 10 guests

Spanish police interrupted the wedding banquet of a suspected drug trafficker, detaining him and 10 guests, police said Tuesday. Police used the wedding party in Madrid to capture all the suspects, most of whom were Colombian citizens. The ring was suspected of importing cocaine hidden in shipments of legal merchandise, distributing it in Spain and legalising the actions by using real companies as a cover. Nineteen other people were held earlier in Spain and Colombia. Spanish police took 250 kilos of cocaine in a previous phase of the operation, which was launched in 2006.

Released Erden Vardar and Sahin Eren were detained on July 12th, 2006, in Huelva as they tried to smuggle 12 kilos of heroin into the country

National Court Judge Baltasar Garzon came under more fire from the press last week when it was revealed that two dangerous Turkish drug traffickers had been released from jail through an oversight on his part. The men walked free in July when their two-year provisional imprisonment ended and the judge failed to extend it. Erden Vardar and Sahin Eren were detained on July 12th, 2006, in Huelva as they tried to smuggle 12 kilos of heroin into the country. Their arrest led to the dismantling of one of the biggest heroin smuggling rings in which another Turk, one Croatian ten Spaniards were detained and 30 kilos of heroin were seized. Judge Garzon had just arrived back from a visit to Colombia where he had opened a seminar, just days before the two-year provisional sentence was due to end, and a few days later left Madrid again. He finally ordered the extension of the men;s provisional imprisonment a few days after it should have been done. As a result, their lawyer was able to get them out of jail. The judge said their release made no difference because they were still in the country and were due to appear in court again later this month

Gary Glitter had made plans to start a new life on the Costa Del Sol

Gary Glitter has been threatened with a 1million pounds bounty on his head if he ever leaves the UK for Spain.Glitter had made plans to start a new life on the Costa Del Sol, but when gangland bosses heard of it, they vowed that they would kill him if he ever set foot in Spain.If Gary Glitter sets foot in Spain, hes dead. One of the biggest British gangsters in Spain is so concerned about him trying to start a new life over here he has offered 1million pounds to anyone who takes him out, Daily Star quoted a gangland source as saying.
What he has done to all those kids is just disgusting and he should be locked up for life. But as the courts have decided to set him free, people over here have decided to take the law into their own hands…and there are plenty of people who would be happy to kill him.The money is just a bonus. Most of the gangsters would be happy to bump him off for nothing, the source stated.Glitter, 64, was planning to buy a posh pad in Puerto Banus in Marbella, but was stopped by police from going to Spain via France last week, and a Foreign Travel Order was granted banning him from leaving the country.The area is a popular celebrity spot, and Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, had been hoping to lose himself among them, but the area also happens to house a number of families with young children, making drug barons and gangsters, who run the resort, want him out.There are a lot of guys out here who are violent men on the run from the police in the UK. They have nothing to lose by wiping out Glitter, the source revealed.No one wants him here and even though these are bad guys, they care about kids and they dont want him preying on the youngsters who come here for a nice holiday, the source added.Glitter has been banned from travelling to France or Spain by Ashford magistrates.

Spanish radio station has published on its web site 2005 Spanish Defense Ministry intelligence report

Spanish radio station has published on its web site what it says is a 2005 Spanish Defense Ministry intelligence report - replete with official insignia and stamped "confidential" - that says Pakistan's premier intelligence service supplied the Taliban with explosives with which to assassinate senior Afghan officials.News reports say the Spanish government declined to comment on the document. Such silences usually speak for themselves.U.S. military and intelligence officials have long privately alleged that officials of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate continued supporting the Taliban after Islamabad officially ended its patronage of the Islamic movement following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The document published on the web site of Cadena Ser, Spain's main station for news and information, appears to be the first official report to enter the public domain that makes that allegation. There are more than 700 Spanish troops with NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.Pakistan has repeatedly denied ISI complicity with the Taliban post-Sept. 11, although the agency's director was replaced this week under pressure from the United States. The shakeup follows charges by unnamed U.S. officials that ISI operatives were involved in the July 2008 bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul. The Afghan government also accused the ISI of complicity in a June 2008 attempt to assassinate President Hamid Karzai.
The document published by Cadena Ser is dated August 2005. It says that the ISI supplied improvised explosive devices to the Taliban "to assassinate high-level" Afghan government officials "from a distance.""They (Taliban) are going to place them (bombs) in vehicles although their targets have not been specified," says the document.The document says it "is possible" that the ISI was training Taliban fighters to use improvised explosive devices at camps inside Pakistan.
The use of the devices in Afghanistan was "inspired" by the use of similar bombs in Iraq, it says.

Steven Waddington fell to his death from a sixth-floor balcony during his honeymoon in Spain

Bride whose husband fell to his death from a sixth-floor balcony during their honeymoon in Spain is preparing to fly home with his body, it emerged yesterday.
Steven and Sarah Waddington, from Hollin, near Middleton in Greater Manchester, were in Benalmádena on the Costa del Sol. They married six weeks ago after an 18-month engagement.Mrs Waddington, a 28-year-old health worker, was said to have walked into their hotel room on Saturday night to find her husband hanging from the balcony rail, crying for help. Mr Waddington, 35, lost his grip and fell. It is thought that he had spent the night drinking in their hotel."We were in love and I will never ever be able to get over this loss," said Sarah Waddington. "Nobody could ever take away this pain. We don't deserve this, it's so unfair. Steven was so popular. He just brought a ray of sunshine into all our lives. He would do anything for anyone and he was like a big brother to a lot of people." The couple lived with their adopted daughter Caragh, 14, Sarah Waddington's cousin, and her son, Harry, who is three. Caragh, whose mother died of cancer in 2004, said: "Steven was the perfect father figure to me and Harry."Steven Waddington, a former pupil of Langley primary and Queen Elizabeth high school, was a talented amateur boxer. Nicknamed The Whip, he won a British super middleweight title in August. Sarah Waddington's best friend, Clare Lancaster, said: "He was the happiest he had ever been and so in love with his beautiful wife, Sarah, and children Harry and Caragh." Terry Ham, a friend and fellow boxer said: "I'm going to miss our training together and our arguments, even when we were both in the wrong, but the next day we would both be in the pub drinking together the best of mates."Thinking of it all now not only brings a tear to my eye, but also makes me laugh. All the boys and my family are truly upset like you can't believe ... Life will never be the same without my spar."
Waddington was described by his employer, Danny Hornsby, as a "sound" amateur boxer.
"I'd known Steven for a couple of years. He was a popular lad and a sound boxer," he said. A spokesman for the Foreign Office said it was looking into the incident.

Spanish ABC newspaper reported that during intercepted telephone calls between Tambov gang leaders Gennady Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov,

The Tambov gang hails from St. Petersburg and takes its name from the city in southwest Russia that its founders were born in. It is thought to have several hundred active members. Twenty Russians suspected of being members of the gang and involved in laundering the proceeds from organized crime were arrested by Spanish police in June in Madrid and Barcelona, as well as Malaga, Valencia and the Balearic Islands.
Spanish ABC newspaper reported that during intercepted telephone calls between Tambov gang leaders Gennady Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov, the Russian mafia bosses bragged about paying "some 50 million" to ensure that Zenit would win their games against Bayern and Rangers. Neither the currency involved, nor the exact methods used to 'fix' the games were stated. It is also not clear what the gang had to gain from their alleged fixing of the results.
Accusations of match-fixing are common in Russian soccer, but the claims exclusively involve domestic games. Bayern's goalkeeper in their 4-0 defeat in St. Petersburg was the legendary Oliver Kahn. The German keeper retired from soccer at the end of last season, and had often stated that he dreamt of taking his bow in the UEFA Cup final. "There have been a number of media reports quoting various sources in Spain that concern the reputation of FC Zenit. The performances by Zenit in the games against Bayern and Rangers are the best proof that these victories were achieved in honest and uncompromising battles," a statement on the Zenit website read.
"At the moment, Zenit's lawyers are evaluating the context of the original publications," the statement added. The press secretary for state-run energy giant Gazprom, which has a controlling stake in Zenit, added that there was "no doubt that the victory was honest." He also said that at present, Gazprom lawyers are not involved in the bid to clear the club's name. "We know about this story and it is something that our investigations unit would obviously be keen to look into." "Allegations of this nature are always worrisome to hear. It is important that we find out what is factual and what is only speculation or part of a newspaper story," he added. Zenit's Dutch coach Dick Advocaat, who was also the Glasgow Rangers' manager from 1998-2002, told the Daily Record: "This is incredible. All I can say is, let them play the tapes so we can hear what has been said. Then everyone will know what a big lie it is. Everyone knows the simple truth - we had a better team than Rangers. That's why we won the UEFA Cup." "There is a lot of jealousy about what we have achieved with Zenit in such a short space of time. People don't like the fact that we have been so successful so quickly. But that has nothing to do with bribes or dirty money. It has everything to do with the quality of the players and coaching staff," he added. The vice-president of the Russian Football Union, Nikita Simonyan told the Sport Den Za Dnem website: "We are used to this kind of thing. Even some of our so-called fans have a tendency to see everything negatively. If we lose, we played badly. If we win, that means we bought the game. This is nonsense." "I've even heard stories about how we bought our Euro 2008 victory against Holland - I've been told the exact sum," he added, going on to say that clubs like Bayern Munich "don't play dirty matches." Ordinary Russian fans were also skeptical, with one supporter, Dmitry Dudenkov, telling RIA Novosti that the claims were "rubbish."
"We bought everything of course! The win against Holland, the ice-hockey world championships, and Dima Bilan's Eurovision victory!" he said.

Case against Michael Dermot McArdle is underway at the Málaga Provincial Court.

Case against Michael Dermot McArdle is underway at the Málaga Provincial Court.
After a delay from Monday because of a bomb hoax at the provincial court building in Málaga, the case against the Irish man accused of throwing his wife to her death off a Marbella hotel balcony, finally got underway on Tuesday.39 year old Michael Dermot McArdle, from Dundalk, denied throwing his wife Kelly-Anne off the fourth floor balcony of the Melia Don Pepe hotel on February 11, 2000 after a row, saying she tripped and fell when she went to attend to her son.However a witness, who was staying in the adjacent room in the hotel, Roy Haines, told the court that he told McArdle to put the mother of two down when he heard noises and saw him lifting her above his head. He said he heard shouts of ‘help’ and that there had been no child on the balcony. Later he said McArdle came to his room with a child with him – the boy said simply ‘My Mummy is dead’.Spanish police said that McArdle first claimed his wife had committed suicide, before later changing his story saying she had fallen by accident.

young son of balcony death mum Kelly-Anne Corcoran told a relative after her death: "Daddy bold; Daddy pushed Mammy", a murder trial heard today.Kelly-Anne’s brother-in-law, Peter Moran, recounted to gardai what the boy said about his mother’s fatal fall from a Spanish hotel balcony. Det Sgt Brian Mohan gave evidence of the interview on the second day of the trial in Spain of Ms Corcoran’s husband Michael McArdle who is charged with her murder. The mother-of-two died after a horrific fall from the balcony of a four star apartment complex in Marbella in February 2000. Mr McArdle from Haggardstown, Dundalk denies his wife’s murder. He insists her fall was an accident. Malaga’s provincial court also heard today that a Spanish police officer who took the accused’s statement noted McArdle seemed calm and not like someone whose wife had just died. The accused was in court today with his sons who are now 10 and 11. His new girlfriend Clare Dollard was also with him and watched proceedings from the back of the mostly empty courtroom. Det Sgt Mohan told the judge and jury through a translator that “everyone was very upset” when he spoke to members of Kelly-Anne’s extended family, the Corcorans and the Morans.
Responding to questions by defence lawyer Luis Casaubon he said he was a friend of the Corcoran family but insisted he acted impartially and properly throughout his involvement in the investigations. Det Sgt Mohan explained he was attached to the crime unit at Dundalk Garda Station. He said he took several statements following requests from Interpol. Kelly-Anne’s sister Caroline Moran had telephoned him on February 12, 2000 and asked him to inform her mother of the tragic events in Spain as she did not want to do so herself. He told Interpol in his report to them that the Corcoran and Moran families had information that would assist the investigation.
Ms Moran’s husband Peter told him in an interview that one of Kelly-Anne’s children said to him a day or two after her death: “Daddy bold; Daddy pushed Mammy”.
Det Insp John O’Mahony, now a Chief Superintendent told the court of a mutual assistance request received by the gardai from the Spanish authorities in relation to the investigation. He said when the Spanish police travelled to Ireland to speak to Mr McArdle he found it “surprising” that the accused “all of a sudden didn’t want to speak”. He was surprised because Mr McArdle had agreed to be interviewed, he said. “His solicitor told me that he had changed his mind, I asked him again would he reconsider as there had been a number of discrepancies found by the Spanish police,” Chief Supt O’Mahony said. “The solicitor went and spoke again to Mr McArdle and he came back a second time and said on legal advice he was not going to speak”.
Supt O’Mahony understood that the Spanish police in subsequent investigations had found a number of contradictions with Mr McArdle’s statement and now wanted to interview him to clarify those contradictions. Supt O’Mahony did not believe that Sgt Mohan had acted improperly adding “in fact it was his duty to have enquiries carried out”.

Antonio Ordinas, the former head of the islands' public-run Economic Development Consortium (CDEIB), and his wife, the historian and opera singer Isab

Eight people were arrested in Majorca on Monday in the latest investigation of corruption by the previous Popular Party regional government of the Balearic Islands.
Antonio Ordinas, the former head of the islands' public-run Economic Development Consortium (CDEIB), and his wife, the historian and opera singer Isabel Rosselló, were arrested as key suspects in the case. Their home, a two-storey mansion with a seven-car garage outside Palma, was searched by police along with the offices of advertising firms and consultancies connected with Ordinas. The investigation involves illegal contracts, false accounting and theft at the CDEIB until 2007, when the PP administration of former premier Jaume Matas lost power, leaving a EUR 8 million loss in the CDEIB's accounts. The current investigation was started by the Socialist officials who took over the consortium and found EUR 17,000 in unexplained expenses charged by Ordinas. Further examination of accounts revealed false expenses and questionable contracts worth up to EUR 1 million. At least three other corruption cases were opened relating to Matas' rule.

€16m of unregistered income from town planning licences issued between 2003 and 2004 by Estepona Town Hall

Inspectors working for Hacienda tax authorities in Spain appear to have unearthed around €16m of unregistered income from town planning licences issued between 2003 and 2004 by Estepona Town Hall, Costa del Sol, indicating potential VAT fraud.
The inspectors, who claim to have had their investigation hindered by the Town Hall, have now submitted the documentary evidence to the Prosecutors’ Office. Manuel Reina, a former politician, is responsible for the accounts, and is currently being detained in connection with the Astapa court case.