Spanish real estate developer Habitat filed for protection from creditors which hold 2.3 billion Euros in debt.

The main creditors of the developer are La Caixa, Caja Madrid, Banco Santander, BBVA and Banco Popular, a total of 38 entities. This is not the first real estate company to go into administration. The total debt of real estate companies in administration is over 10,500 million Euros.The president of Habitat, however appears rather optimistic as he announced that “the company will face all their obligations and has enough active capital to confront its debt”.

court has registered a condition of ‘bankruptcy’ for Polaris World Sports Centre, Polaris Development, Polaris World Development, Polaris World Indus

Polaris World returned to court with their creditors with the debt now owed to the Bank of Valencia by the Murcian constructor estimated to be around 62-million euros and around 100-million euros owed overall. According to the economic newspaper Cinco Días, the principle creditors are Caja Mediterráneo, Bancaja Group y Banco Popular.
Polaris World accepted that 15 of its companies, are in a ’state of insolvencia’ and thus the group is seeking to initiate a period of negotiation with their creditors before entering suspension of payments. The insolvency affects four of the urbanizations, two hotels and El Oasis de Alhama commercial centre among others. The debt of the company, that also accounts for some 700 employees, approaches 100 million Euros.
In particular,

the court has registered a condition of ‘bankruptcy’ for Polaris World Sports Centre, Polaris Development, Polaris World Development, Polaris World Industrial Machinery Rental, Polaris World Concrete, Polaris World Real Estate, Nicklaus Trail Golf, Valley Resort Golf, Green Property, Riquelme Property, Polaris Tower Hotel, El Oasis de Alhama Commercial Centre, Polaris Oasis City and Alhama Resort Golf. These companies have until 22nd March 2010, to negotiate new terms with their creditors.

It’s still business as usual at Polaris World; the Murcian Government have voiced their support for the complex with the owners and directors are hopeful that new terms can be negotiated to avoid further action and court appearances. Polaris World is known throughout Europe for its golf, football complex, residences and quality hotels and all that can be done shall be, according to the directors and management

Public Prosecutor is asking for 16 and a half in prison for a man accused of killing a couple and injuring two motorcyclists in Alicante

Public Prosecutor is asking for 16 and a half in prison for a man accused of killing a couple and injuring two motorcyclists in Alicante in February 2008. The private accusation is asking for 30 years in prison, considering that the accused was completely aware of what he was doing. The accused drove 16 kilometres in the wrong direction on the A-70, but told the court that he didn’t intend to kill himself, and had suffered a psychotic episode which drove him to the motorway. However, the doctor who examined him four days after the event ruled that he was completely sane at the time and had confessed he was in a hurry to get to San Vicente and entered the motorway in the wrong direction by mistake.

Denia Judge has sent a young man who allegedly belonged to a gang who perpetrated four attacks against teenagers, stealing their mobile phones

Denia Judge has sent a young man who allegedly belonged to a gang who perpetrated four attacks against teenagers, stealing their mobile phones and money, to prison on remand without bail. The gang covered their faces with balaclavas and threatened the victims with knives.

DAVID BROOKES, 59, a former Royal Artillery warrant officer and an ex-policeman, was killed by smoke in a fire in the town of Jimena de la Frontera

DAVID BROOKES, 59, a former Royal Artillery warrant officer and an ex-policeman, was killed by smoke in a fire in the town of Jimena de la Frontera His wife Florence, 58, was found by a passerby in hysterics in the street outside. The fire had already been extinguished when the man entered the house and found the lifeless body of Mr Brookes in a bedroom.
Mrs Brookes, originally from Edinburgh, is recovering from severe shock in hospital.
But her family did not know about the tragedy until they read about it in a newspaper on Friday, January 8.
Mr Brookes' son Paul, 37, said: "It was awful to read this in the paper. It was a dreadful shock’’
"It seems there was a breakdown in communications and the British consulate was not informed about dad's death."

one million Britons living in Spain some 74 per cent revealed that repatriation is now a distinct possibility

one million Britons living in Spain some 74 per cent revealed that repatriation is now a distinct possibility, according to a study undertaken by Moneycorp.Some 37 per cent of those surveyed admitted that they were already looking into returning to the British Isles.The house market crash has seen the value of homes on the Costa del Sol crash to below 65 per cent their original asking price.

“Brits living in Spain are particularly affected by the struggling property market with many owning holiday homes and letting out their Spanish properties.”
Add the plummeting pound and limited job opportunities, the survey has fuelled fears that there could be a widespread exodus.
“Brits living in Europe are feeling the effects of the weak pound as they are more likely to be reliant on income from their British property, UK pension and other regular sources of funds,” said David Kerns, Head of Private Clients at Moneycorp.
“Brits living in Spain are particularly affected by the struggling property market with many owning holiday homes and letting out their Spanish properties.”

Meanwhile, the survey also revealed that more than a third of expatriates in Italy, Germany and France are also mulling over moving back to the UK.Kerns added: “Our research shows that British expats have had a tough time and the findings reveal that no country has escaped unharmed from the economic downturn.”
The survey interviewed 250 Europe-based UK expatriates and was conducted from October to November 2009.

demolition of nine British owned properties in Albox, Almería.

President of the Junta de Andalucía, José Antonio Griñán, told Europa Press on Thursday that he had not received ‘any notification or letter’ from the British Ambassador to Spain, Giles Paxman, regarding the demolition of nine British owned properties in Albox, Almería.British diplomats are insisting that Ambassador Paxman has written and sent a fax asking for a meeting to try and find a solution to the problem, but speaking to journalists in Córdoba, José Antonio Griñán, said that the building licences for the properties had already been contested by the Junta at the time as not being considered as legal. He insisted that the Junta had therefore met its obligations regarding the matter, and that the properties were illegal.
However also speaking on Thursday the Junta’s Councillor for Housing, Juan Espadas, made a call for calm from the nine property owners. He said that his department would be looking at the matter ‘case by case’. He said that problem had arisen because of the ‘speculative interests of professional defrauders’ who had attracted foreign investors by offering the chance of building on non-buildable land without explaining exactly what any problems could be.Espadas also expressed his wish to halt the disordered growth and said leaving the new town plans aside he would be working with the Town Halls in the districts of the Almanzora in Almería and Axarquia in Málaga with the objective of imposing urban discipline.‘The Junta de Andalucía does not knock down buildings, but challenges licences it considers to be illegal, and it is the judge who then decides’, he said.

fraud paid for a luxury lifestyle in the UK and Spain which included the purchase of a villa in Marbella

Alan James Wilson was the director of a company which designed and rented portable refrigerated units from its base at Staffordshire Technology Park in Beaconside.Wilson took part in a fraud, as sole director of the business, which centred on falsifying rental agreement documents, misappropriation of company funds and disposal of equipment.
The fraud paid for a luxury lifestyle in the UK and Spain which included the purchase of a villa in Marbella, currently on the market at 850,000 Euros, a 47-foot yacht which has a list price of £490,000, a luxury home in Derbyshire and Mercedes cars.The 57-year-old, from Chapel-en-le-Frith in Derbyshire, was investigated by officers from Staffordshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit. He was arrested and admitted offences of theft, false accounting and fraud at a previous hearing at Stafford Crown Court.
He has been sentenced to 44 months imprisonment while the case was adjourned for 21 days for a confiscation hearing.Money from the sale of the yacht, villa and UK home, and funds seized from Wilson’s foreign accounts, is likely to go towards the confiscation order. All of Wison’s assets are currently held under restraint by police pending the forthcoming confiscation hearing.Detective Sergeant Nick Jones, from the Economic Crime Unit, said: “Wilson carried out fraud to enjoy a lavish lifestyle. We are committed to bringing offenders to justice while at the same time removing the trappings of a lifestyle earned through crime.
“We are increasingly using asset recovery to take back ill-gotten gains, which are then paid as compensation to victims. These are often other commercial institutions, which may be struggling in the difficult economic climate and rely on recovered funds to continue to trade and employ staff. To allow offenders to prosper from crime is an affront to law-abiding citizens.”

Three men were seriously injured yesterday

Three men were seriously injured yesterday when scaffolding collapsed at a football pitch in the town of Santa María del Águila in El Ejido.
The three men, aged between 40 and 51, were taken to the Poniente hospital where two of the men are reported to be seriously ill.
All three men suffered bruising while one of the men has a broken leg.
One of the men was released from hospital the day of the accident.

Third person has been arrested in connection with last Saturday’s shooting in Almeria city

Police arrested 27-year-old Spaniard, F.J.R.G., yesterday. A search of the address also revealed an Astra 9mm pistol which police believe to be the weapon used in Saturday’s killing, in which a 29-year-old Moroccan man was shot at point blank range in the city centre.
Police believe F.J.R.G. to be the person actually responsible for the shooting.

Spanish association supporting the opening of civil war graves, the Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica (AMRH)

Spanish association supporting the opening of civil war graves, the Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica (AMRH), yesterday said they intended to push for further attempts to locate the grave of poet and playwright, Federico Garcia Lorca.
In a statement published yesterday, the AMRH said they did not consider December’s failed attempt to find the mass grave a “failure” as it allowed certain erroneous oral testimony to be discounted.
Lorca was killed in August, 1936 and buried in a mass grave along with three other men. Lorca’s family do not support the search for the poet’s remains.

Police yesterday arrested two Spanish men in connection with Saturday’s shooting in Almeria city in which a 29-year-old Moroccan man was shot

Police yesterday arrested two Spanish men in connection with Saturday’s shooting in Almeria city in which a 29-year-old Moroccan man was shot at point blank range and killed.The two arrested men, 22-year-old, J.M.S.S., and 23-year-old, D.R.M., both have criminal records for a variety of crimes. Police have said they expect more arrests to follow in the course of the next few days.
The Moroccan man is the third person to be murdered in the province of Almeria this year.

Ronald Priestley, 69, of Colton, Leeds, fled to Spain in 2005 after masterminding a £4.25m counterfeit banknote fraud.

He was sentenced to eight years in jail in his absence and was finally arrested when Spanish police swooped on a villa in Marbella earlier this month.Priestley was the subject of a world-wide man hunt after failing to attend a Leeds Crown Court hearing in August 2005, where he faced charges of conspiracy to counterfeit £20 banknotes with a face value of £4.25m.He returned to the court yesterday to formally begin his original sentence with an appearance before the Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier.On November 2, he will return to face the judge at his original trial, Judge Geoffrey Marson QC, over additional charges concerning breach of bail.
Priestley, who lived in a luxury home on Park Road, had a criminal past in counterfeiting long before 2005.In December 2002, he was stripped of more than £2.2m at Bradford Crown Court after police raids netted 138,000 bottles of fake perfumes and 1,500 bottles of Spanish sparkling wine relabelled as Moet et Chandon champagne.
In April that year, he was jailed for 18 months after admitting three counts of conspiracy to sell or distribute counterfeit goods - but was released early from jail.Priestley was arrested as part of crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers' Operation Captura, which has identified criminals living in Spain wanted in the UK. He was featured in the campaign's first top 10 appeal in October 2006.

Cocaine Bermudas arrested at Barcelona Airport

Drug smugglers are seeking ever more inventive ways of smuggling cocaine into the country with two recent cases highlighted by the EFE news agency. The first was in Tarragona last week, where a man from Ghana was arrested at the city’s port with 2.6 kilos of cocaine hidden in a women’s girdle strapped to his body. He’d been passed the drugs in a toilet by the Filipino crew member of an Italian ship who’d smuggled the cocaine on board the ship in Costa Rica.And a 65 year old man from Germany was arrested at Barcelona Airport last Saturday from a flight from South America with 6.6 kilos of cocaine in a specially-designed pair of shorts worn beneath his trousers. The rather bulky item of clothing incorporated dozens of small cylinders designed to hold the drugs in an attempt smuggle them through Customs at El Prat.

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1,400 luxury homes in El Paraíso

An agreement was due to be signed in Estepona this Monday which will allow the Saudi royal family to go ahead with a project to build 1,400 luxury properties in the area of El Paraíso.La Opinión de Málaga reports it as a project previously approved by the Town Hall, but which was put on hold last June with the arrests in the Astapa corruption case. Some amendments have been made since then, including, at the request of the Partido Popular, a new road to connect the new urbanisation with other areas nearby. The Saudi royal family have also accepted to cede 30,000 square metres of land for public facilities.The paper said work could start at the beginning of next year, bringing much-needed employment in the local construction sector.

British man accused by the business owner of stealing a barrel of beer worth 600 €.

British man named by Ideal newspaper as Leslie James B. has been arrested by the Almería Civil Guard for a spate of thefts from a business in Turre and selling the stolen items on to beach restaurants in Mojácar. He’s accused, according to Europa Press, of passing off cakes he allegedly stole from the shop as ones he had made himself.He was caught red-handed gaining access to the premises via a terrace and leaving with his haul. The suspect is reported to have a previous record for theft, and is also accused by the business owner of stealing a barrel of beer worth 600 €.

Body found in the Alicante mountains where Michael Egglestone disappeared

Body found in the Alicante mountains where a British holidaymaker disappeared at the end of May is not believed to be that of the missing man, the UK Northern Echo reports this Thursday. The newspaper spoke to residents of Benichembla, where Michael Egglestone was staying when he disappeared, who said they had been told by the Guardia Civil that the body found on the mountains had not yet been identified. The newspaper said it’s believed to be a local man, and was being transferred for autopsy in Dénia on Wednesday night.52 year old ex soldier, Michael Leslie Eggleston, was last seen on 31st May when he set off on a hiking trip from Benichembla, a village where almost half the 750 or so inhabitants are foreign residents. He’s reported to be an experienced walker and set off well-prepared for the trip. A Civil Guard search has so far failed to find any trace of him and his wife, Janice, returned home to Nettlesworth, in the North East, this Wednesday night. She’s believed to have helped in the search for her missing husband, the paper said.The couple have two children and are reported to have been married for around 10 years.

Top-level prostitution in Elche

Residents of a building in Elche, only constructed 18 months ago, say they have been fighting top-level prostitution in the block for the past five months.It’s because one of the flats on the fifth floor has become a luxury prostitution venue, and sees a never ending parade of prostitutes and their clients. The residents say they often have to put up with ‘unpleasant comments’ and so now they have started to protest by putting banners over their balconies saying ‘whores out’ and even hanging up some blow-up dolls. They have spent 19,000 € on a new video camera security system and a private guard, in an effort to intimidate possible clients heading for the 5th floor. One of the people thought to have rented the premises concerned told Público newspaper that they are doing no damage and bother nobody. 'When a client comes they ring the bell and the door opens, no more', and that they only operate from 11am to 11pm.

Michael Leslie Eggleston went missing in the Alicante village of Benigembla a week ago

Guardia Civil has been continuing its search for the 54 year old British hiker who went missing in the Alicante village of Benigembla a week ago.Ex Soldier, Michael Leslie Eggleston, has not been seen since last Sunday when he went out hiking.
His wife reported his disappearance on Tuesday, but so far the search, using mountain teams and a helicopter, has revealed nothing. It is concentrated in the mountain areas of La Solana and La Laguna.Benigembla is a village with some 750 residents, 45% of them are foreign residents, mostly from the EU.