Villa Rentals Spain

The prosecutor in a murder case in Murcia on the Costa Calida , is asking for a sentence of 25 years to be given to the killer.

The man has admitted to having killed his flatmate and hiding his mutilated body in a huge pottery jar so that he could eat him at a later date.He was found guilty by a jury last week.

The murder took place in their shared flat in Bullas in 2008.The victim was extremely drunk at the time and was unable to defend himself.It has been said that the man was killed with cruelty and premeditation.The man was beaten with a stick, tied to the bed and stabbed several times with a knife and a screwdriver.

The accused has also been accused of the crime of body desecration and also attacking the police.The jury was told that the man knew exactly what he was doing and was not suffering from a mental disorder.The sentence will be given in a few weeks time.

A German resident of Alfaz del Pi on the Spanish Costa Blanca , reported an assassination attempt on his life to the police in October 2011.He accused a particular man of the crime.

The allegation stated that he had been returning home , after an evening out , when he was shot at three times .He virtually accused another Alfaz del Pi resident with whom he had an ongoing dispute over money.

The Alfaz del Pi police took the matter seriously and sent clothing from both men for forensic examination.The results only showed gunshot residue on the clothing of the accuser and none on the clothing of the accused.

The police came to the conclusion that this was a false accusation in an attempt to free himself of the money debt which he owed.He has now been charged with simulating a serious crime.

An unrelated crime happened in Villajoyosa when a Romanian man of 24 was stabbed and seriously beaten outside a brothel in the town.The man who perpetrated the crime is in custody and the reason for the attack has not been ascertained.

The Rio Park hotel in Benidorm on the Spanish Costa Blanca , had a fire in a chimney last week and both kitchen and reception staff had to be evacuated from the hotel.The fire service was called out at around 5pm after staff were unable to get a burning pan of oil under control.

The fire service took less than an hour to control the blaze and none of the hotel guests had to be evacuated.However , a guest who was staying on the top floor did report the fact that he could smell something similar to burning plastic.He rang reception to ask what it was.He was told the truth but was not advised to leave the hotel.

He and a number of other staff chose to leave and they watched the drama unfold in the street.Many guests had no idea of the drama which had taken place and had been in their rooms throughout.There were no injuries and the hotel services resumed fairly rapidly.

Albir is a small coastal town on the Spanish Costa Blanca .Last week people who use the TRAM in Albir and Alfaz del Pi , found themselves in total darkness at the railway stations.

FGV run the TRAM system and they responded to the problem very quickly with technicians and generators.The technicians checked the systems and found no problems , which confused everyone as to the reason.

The answer to their problem was under their noses so to speak.It was the Albir town council that was to blame.In their effort to save money on fuel they were turning off street lighting and had forgotten that the stations were linked to the same system.

There is always a political answer to such a problem and this time it was that the station actually belongs to regional government and it is really they who should supply the electricity.However it is linked to the town supply for the streets and so the town is paying a regional government bill.It appears that the problem with the supply has now been sorted out.The blackout did not affect any services.

A British man paid a Jalon , Costa Blanca , estate agent 100,000 euros as a deposit on a property he agreed to purchase.When the sale fell through the estate agent would not return his money.

The British man has been involved in a 3 year battle to get his money returned as it was the estate agent who pulled out of the deal. When the man wanted to take up residence in the property he discovered that the property belonged to the sole director of the estate agency.They could not move out because they did not have another property to move to.

The reason quoted for not returning the money was that Mr Warriner had not exercised his right to buy within the timescale stipulated in their initial written agreement.

The Denia judge discovered so many anomalies in that agreement that he said that it was almost invalid.All it really demonstrated was that the man wanted to buy the house and that he had paid the deposit.

Consequently the court rescinded the contract and ordered Premier Villas to repay the deposit in full with interest and plus costs.

Customs officers and the National Police in Alicante Province on the Costa Blanca have been carrying out a major operation against a gang which was laundering money in the province.

The investigation has centred on a number of Chinese Nationals who were diverting large sums of money out of Spain to China to avoid paying tax and to hide it from the tax inspectors.

Properties in Villena , Alicante , Elche , Benidorm and Petrer were  raided and a very large amount of documentation was discovered relating to this fiscal fraud.There were dozens of fake companies through which the money passed.

A judge in Alicante number 1 court will be questioning the 12 suspects. The fiscal fraud could run into several million euros . A similar case in 2009 involved Chinese and there were 30 million euros involved.The importation of shoes was their cover.

The Valencia regional government is seeking as many ways as possible to cut costs at the moment and healthcare is an area which literally eats up money.

The Health Councillor for the Valencia region is going to close many health centres at weekends across the region.Those health centres where Saturday mornings are relatively quiet will close.However they will open for an hour longer from Monday to Friday.They will now stay open until 21.00 hours.

Many will ask how this will save money as there will be a similar number of staff to pay and the same amount of energy used.However most conditions can survive a weekend and as long as there are emergency services available then it should work well.If there are true savings.

Unions are unhappy because there has been no consultation with medical staff or unions.Another blow will be that all non resident EU visitors will have to pay for their medical attention , which is only right , and then regain the money from insurance cover.This will happen from January 2013.People must prove that they habitually live in the Valencia region to gain free treatment.

Pharmacists are still waiting for 120 million euros of their money from way back.It was promised for the beginning of February but has not materialised.Pharmacists are planning more strikes if the money is not forthcoming as was agreed at the end of 2011.

The Policia Local in Altea on the Spanish Costa Blanca have reported that on the night of February 5 they were asked to stop a car which had been involved in a hit and run accident in Calpe.

The car in question was a red Ferrari and it fled the scene of the accident so the Calpe police alerted the police in Altea.CCTV cameras enabled them to pick up and follow the progress of the car and to set up roadblocks.

At 9pm in Altea the Ferrari attempted to get around one of the roadblocks.A number of police vehicles were damaged and the officers were forced to puncture the tyres of the Ferrari and then smash its windows to access the driver.

Once out of the car the man was breathalysed .He tested positive for alcohol.He was also charged with dangerous driving and failing to obey a police officer.

Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba has become the new leader of the Spanish left wing PSOE party.He was elected by a narrow margin.

Last Saturday there was a conference in Sevilla in Andalucia and the party associations and activists gave Rubalcaba 487 votes and his opponent Carme Chacon received 22 votes less.She was the former Defence Minister.

Rubalcaba led the party at the General Election in November .The then Prime Minister decided not to run for re-election and he took the party to a defeat which was expected by everyone.

After the elections the leadership contest was opened to those who wished to stand and the socialists have backed him once again.Rubalcaba now has the job of revitalising the party after the worst election defeat in their history.

The huge support for the PP could be put down to a reaction over the Spanish economy.However it was not necessarily the PSOE who caused that .There were worldwide problems and also European problems and the economy in Spain was an illusion when the PP were in power and it was ready to collapse.

The Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador has suffered the worst of fates in that he has been stripped of his 2010 Tour de France title and he will not be allowed to enter the Olympic Games in London this year.

The most senior body in cycling , the Court of Arbitration , met last Monday and upheld the appeal against the Spanish Cycling Federation´s decision not to ban Contador after he had tested positive for clenbuterol.

A retrospective two year ban expires on August 5 enabling him to enter the Vuelta de España. Contador continues to insist that he is totally innocent and has pointed out that the ruling does not say that he deliberately took the performance enhancing drugs.He is going to appeal against the ruling and he says that he will not give up cycling.