13 - 19 July 2017
COSTA DE ALMERÍA
YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION Guardia Civil
ISSUE NO. 1671
HELD: The suspect allegedly committed hundreds of crimes.
Serial child abuser held
Text horror By Matthew Elliott A furious father from Almeria has helped expose an alleged paedophile who may have abused hundreds of children in the province, as well as in Cadiz and Malaga. Guardia Civil officers arrested the former youth camp monitor at his Cadiz home after acting on intelligence provided by colleagues in Almeria. Officers found more than 5,000 sexually explicit
photos and videos on the 2 6 - y e a r- o l d ’s c o m p u t e r hard drive. An estimated 1,000 involved children. They were tipped off by a man who found highly sexual messages on his c h i l d ’s p h o n e . T h e m e s sages asked for photos of the girl’s private parts and also asked her physical questions about her friends. They came from a man who once worked at a summer camp the girl attended in Malaga. Once investiga-
tors had this link they began an exhaustive search for the suspect, finally identifying their man, whose initials are AJDC. The suspect has worked as a nurse and volunteer at summer camps across southern Spain since 2013. Police estimated that he had been in direct contact with at least 2,000 children during that time. After conducting interviews and searching his phone conversations, officers believe he has contact-
ed roughly 100 children by phone. At least 13 responded, complying with his request for graphic photos. Many of them are likely keeping the conversations secret. The man is believed to have used his position to s t a y i n t h e c h i l d r e n ’s dorms during the popular camps. He befriended many and took their phone numbers, added them on Facebook and asked them not to tell anyone about their relationship.
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Smart beach changes A NEW scheme is set to explore how to make Almeria’s dozens of beaches more accessible to disabled people and those with reduced mobility. The Verdiblanca Association of Persons with Disabilities has asked different councils to establish a working group to explore smart ways of opening beaches to a sizeable proportion of the population. Verdiblanca want an exhaustive survey to be carried out of local beaches this summer to identify problems and solutions to make life easier for Almeria’s disabled residents. Toilets without seats, staggered ramps, railings at impossibly high heights, dodgy benches, and ‘shaded’ areas with no actual shade are among the variety of problems the group has already requested help fixing. Verdiblanca would also like to see pedestrian walkways expanded to create more space, an earlier schedule for lifeguards, and the keys to toilets to be made more easily available.
Suicide rescue squad GUARDIA CIVIL officers rescued a man who slit his wrists and wandered into the campo in an apparent suicide bid. They managed to track him using flashlights to follow a trail of dripping blood leading into a mountainous area near Vicar. They rushed to the scene after receiving a frantic call from
the man’s girlfriend. He had sent her a video showing him ingesting dozens of sleeping pills and cutting his wrists at three o’clock in the morning. When police arrived at his home they discovered the bloody trail leading outside. They found the man lying in some bushes half-conscious but alive.