Southend men held in Spain moved to new prison wing

 

TWO men who are being held in Spain on suspicion of attempted murder have been moved to a new prison wing with better conditions. Kyle Thain, 24, of Sandringham Road, Southend, and James Harris, 29, of Pelham Road, Southend, have been moved to a new wing of Fontcalent prison, Alicante. The pals, who have been held without charge since July 8, have been relocated to Modulo Respecto, a part of the jail which should make life a little easier for them as they fight for freedom. Jay Thain, 29, Kyle’s older brother, said: “The new wing is for people who are better behaved. It is a lot cleaner and the food is better. “They have a lot more facilities. There is a proper gym and a table tennis table, it is much better for them.” Mr Thain said his brother and James are doing as much as they can to help keep themselves occupied, stay positive and pass the time. He said: “They are trying to learn Spanish and Kyle is drawing.” Kyle and James were arrested as they went to board a plane home after a lads weekend away. The friends, both former pupils of the King John School, Thundersley, are accused of beating up and stabbing two men in a bar near where they were staying. However, the pair maintain they never even went to the bar and their families say there has been a terrible case of mistaken identity. Since the lads were arrested Jay has worked tirelessly, with the help of family and friends, to get both men back home. Sharon Harris, Kyle’s mum, has put her house in Brunswick Road, Southend, on the market to help towards legal fees, which have already topped £10,000. Meanwhile, family and friends have been busy organising a series of fundraising events. James and Kyle, along with another pal Joe Elliot, 24, landed in Cabo Roig on Friday, July 1. All three were quizzed on Tuesday, July 5, at Murcia Airport before Kyle and James were held on suspicion of attempted murder. A getaway car used by the two attackers is still being sought by Spanish police and once found is likely to help with the case. Jay said: “In August everything shuts, the court circuit closes and nothing gets done.”

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Surgeons repair Spanish king's ruptured tendon

 

Spanish surgeons successfully repaired 73-year-old King Juan Carlos's ruptured Achilles tendon on Monday, medical and palace officials said. The popular monarch had surgery to the Achilles tendon of his left foot at the private USP San Jose hospital in Madrid and has returned to his Zarzuela palace on the outskirts of the capital, they said. "The procedure was carried out successfully under epidural anaesthetic," the hospital said in a statement. Surgeons repaired the tendon through open reconstruction surgery, strengthening it with a transplant from the king's own body and with plasma rich in growth factor, it said. In typical open surgery, a surgeon makes a long incision along the back of the leg and sews the broken tendon back together. The ankle is often immobilized for up to three months afterwards. "His majesty is feeling well at the Zarzuela palace, where he will continue his recovery," said the statement, signed by operating surgeon Angel Villamor and the palace's chief physician, Avelino Barros. The king underwent surgery by the same team on June 3 to place an artificial joint in his right knee and he has since been seen in public relying on a crutch. He will now embark on a "long programme of rehabilitation" and the heel will be temporarily immobilised, the palace had said earlier. The king had a benign tumour removed from a lung in May 2010 when he was kept four days in hospital and then had 10 days' rest at a private Barcelona clinic. In September last year the royal household said he had completely recovered from the lung operation and would not require further tests. Born January 5, 1938, in Rome, Juan Carlos was proclaimed king November 22, 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco who had designated him as his successor since 1969. After Franco's death, the king promised to rule for all Spaniards, signing a new constitution three years later and defending parliamentary democracy from an attempted right-wing military coup in 1981.

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Doctor serves six months in prison because of his grandmother's mothballs

 

mistaken positive in a drugs test carried out at Barajas Airport in Madrid has resulted in a Panamanian doctor, Juan Rodríguez Lizondro, to be imprisoned in Madrid for six months. The customs authorities and Guardia Civil declared that his 19 kilos of clothes had been impregnated with cocaine, while the doctor claimed they had detected his grandmother’s camphor. The reported conversation at the time was.... ‘It smells strange – what’s it got?’ ‘I don’t know. I live with my grandmother. She irons my clothes with starch, and then puts it in drawers with balls of camphor ro repel the moths – maybe it’s that’. ‘Let’s see’, said the Guardia Civil, who then sprayed the clothes with an aerosol which produced a distinctive blue colour, indicating as far as they were concerned that it was cocaine. The 34 year old doctor, who is a Seventh Day Adventist, had come to Madrid because of a three month scholarship he had won with the Carlos III Health Institute. He did not drink or smoke, much less take drugs. Despite that the prosecutor called for him to be charged with drug trafficking and the judge, who considered the aerosol test could not be wrong on 108 different items of clothing. A second test on the clothing at the Spanish Medicaments Agency took six months to come up with the correct result showing that there were no drugs. ‘I came to Spain with all my dreams and a grand project, and everything turned into the worst nightmare’.

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Spanish Government and Google In Court Over Right To Be Forgotten

While many in the United States are working on search engine optimization and crazy antics to get more and better hits on Google, there are at least 90 people in Spain who are doing just the opposite. The Spanish government, having ordered Google to remove people who attempted to “opt out” by sending formal complaints to Spain’s Data Protection Agency, is now engaged in a lawsuit with the Internet giant and the rift between European ideas of privacy and American ones has been brought to bear.

The whole issue started as a result of an official Spanish government gazette in which certain information about citizens is published by law. All was well and good until the gazette was digitalized and subsequently indexed on search engines at which point individuals have complained, citing their right to privacy and right to be forgotten.

It seems that people aren’t trying to opt out for trivial reasons. One example, given by The Register, is of a victim of domestic violence who found that her address was easily found through Google. Google, of course, is fighting to keep the information indexed as a matter of free speech. Google says that the removal of this information “would have a profound chilling effect on free expression without protecting people’s privacy,” and to a certain extent, I think they are right. I also think there is a very important detail missing from our knowledge of this whole proceeding: is there anyone who is advocating for this specific information being public?

The problem of removing information from Google searches is a real one, and the slippery slope implications scream potential censorship. First domestic violence victims opt out, then it’s domestic violence convicts, so on and so forth. However, in those cases, it would be safe to assume there would be an opposing voice. A convict tries to opt-out and a judge or the victim says, ‘No, I want that information to be available.’ Then we have an actual argument. Right now however, a victim of abuse wants her address information removed and Google is essentially saying ‘No, I want information in general to be available.’ If there is no one clamoring for her address specifically to be public, there seems to be no harm in letting it drift off the Internet.

All that being said, it is ultimately up to a court to decide. Whether or not it will really affect us here in the states is questionable, but the verdict is bound to set the European framework for the right to be forgotten in the digital age. Over here, we’re too into reality television to care that much.

 

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EU allows crisis-hit Spain to restrict Romanian workers

Spain will now require Romanians to have a work contract before settling in Spain and reverses a two and a half year moratorium that gave Romanian workers unrestricted access as fellow members of the European Union.
The EU commission recognised that the measure was necessary “due to serious disturbances on the labour market in crisis hit Spain,” said a statement released by Brussels, Thursday.
The approval running to the end of 2012 marks the first time the “safe-guard clause” to restrict freedom of movement by EU member citizens has been invoked.
Spain suffers from the EU's highest jobless rate, running at over 20 per cent since May last year and rising to more than 30 per cent among Romanian nationals currently settled there.
The free movement of citizens from a new member state can only be restricted under certain conditions and Spain was asked to provide data to justify the implementation of the emergency curb.

 

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British holidaymakers face travel misery as ground staff across Spanish airports threaten two days of strike action later this month.

More than 60,000 ground staff are threatening 24 hour walkouts on August 18 and August 26 which could cripple airports across Spain during the height of the holiday season.
The action will force delays and cancellations at all Spanish airports including Malaga, Alicante, the Balearics and Canary Islands, affecting hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers returning from their summer breaks.
The country’s main unions, CCOO, UGT and USO, support the strike action in a row over baggage handling contracts. It has been sparked following the decision by a private company at Barcelona’s El Prat airport to make four workers redundant.
A statement from the CCOO workers union confirmed the planned action: “The strike will affect every single Spanish airport, and will involve around 60,000 workers.”
The first day of the strike coincides with the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI in Madrid to lead World Youth Day celebrations. Up to a million pilgrims are expected to flock into the capital for the three-day papal visit.

In separate industrial action, Madrid’s underground rail workers have threatened to down tools on 18 August to protest over wage cuts.
Union chiefs have called emergency meetings with authorities to discuss the provision of “minimum services” at airports if the strikes go ahead. There was hope that they could still be averted.
Last December Spanish airports were brought to a standstill when air traffic controllers staged wildcat strikes forcing the military to take over and a “state of alert” to be declared. Further strike action over Easter was called off after a last minute deal was reached.

 

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British funk band, Incognito, to play Salobreña

British funk band, Incognito, have chosen Salobreña for their only concert in Spain. It will take place on the Paseo de las Flores at 2230 on August 12 as part of the Tendencias festival.

The festival has been held for the past 20 years and has attracted many top national and international names, but this year is the first time it is to be held in the beautiful setting of the Paseo de Las Flores, close to the Salobreña Arab castle.

 

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QUESTIONS were today raised as to why a man accused of murder in Tenerife was allowed to fly home without standing trial.

As revealed in the Echo, Andrew Crowther landed back in the North East at the beginning of this month after spending four years in a psychiatric hospital in Tenerife.

The 51-year-old was arrested in August 2007 on the Spanish island after his partner Margaret Manley, 40, was discovered in the apartment they shared in the popular Los Christianos beach resort. She had been strangled to death.

Mr Crowther, originally from Washington, was charged with her murder, which he denied, claiming he could not remember anything.

Despite never standing trial, on July 3 he was flown into Newcastle Airport and is now believed to be under a 28-day assessment order at a North East hospital.

However, it remains unclear what will happen to him at the end of the assessment, since he is not facing any criminal proceedings in this country.

Northumbria Police said their only involvement with Mr Crowther was with his transportation back to the UK.

It can also be revealed that Mr Crowther, a builder by trade, is not currently under the supervision of MAPPA, which manages offenders and dangerous people living in the region, as he is not technically a criminal in this country.

Martin Callanan, MEP for the North East, today said: “It’s extremely concerning that a man accused of murdering someone could be put back on the streets.

“But at the end of the day, if you’ve not committed any offence in the UK then it’s difficult to see what the British authorities can do about it.”

Mr Crowther is understood to be currently be under the care of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Mental Health Trust and is being treated in a North East Hospital. It is possible that after the assessment he could be referred to MAPPA if he is deemed to be dangerous.

Mr Callanan added: “I would presume the relevant authorities are doing what they can but it is a difficult because if you haven’t committed a crime here in the UK then you can’t be detained for it.

“It’s a very difficult situation but, as I said, is extremely concerning.”

A Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Mental Health Trust spokesman said they were unable to confirm any details on individual cases.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office added: “We were aware when he was arrested at the time and provided assistance to his family but are not involved with anything else.”

Police have been attempting to contact Ms Manley’s next of kin.

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EXPATS MUST make themselves legal in Spain to access the health system and qualify for the support it offers residents

EXPATS MUST make themselves legal in Spain to access the health system and qualify for the support it offers residents, a charity’s annual summer fundraising lunch was told.

Irene Ellis MBE, President of Cancer Care Javea, and Jan Elders, President of HELP International Benidorm and Honorary Welfare Officer of the RAFA North Costa Blanca Branch, were united in stressing the need to ‘go legal’ at the Expatriate Ostomates of Spain (EOS) event.
And supported by EOS President Cynthia Robinson, they advised expats should complete all the paperwork to insure they were in the system before calling for assistance.

At the lunch in Restaurante Amenecer, Javea, Cynthia accepted a generous donation from Cancer Care and said it would be used to benefit ostomates across Spain requiring both physical and emotional support.

Irene explained how Cancer Care had embarked on a new project, fundraising to provide Denia Hospital with the latest equipment to diagnose cancer – making detection of the disease quicker and more accurate through genetic analyses.

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Amazing Spanish Rapa Das Bestas festival to tame wild horses

Wild horses are rounded up, trimmed and groomed in different villages in Spain's northwestern region of Galicia for the Rapa Das Bestas event every year on the first weekend of July.

Rapa Das Bestas, which means taming the beast, is an ancient festival of the region during which people wrestle untamed horses to the ground without using any weapon and cut their manes and tails.

The horse hairs collected during the festival are used for making household items such as brushes and mattresses.

Rapa Das Bestas festival 2011 took place in the village of Sabucedo in Spain on July 2, as visitors and locals gathered to watch the event.

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