19
A Estepona Big clean-up ll about
Vol. 10 Issue 238
April 27th - May
10th 2016
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www.theolivepress.e
Biggest and best Estepona supplement ever - From P19
From its potted geraniums to its and cultivated orchids its Banksyseafaring virgin and it’s style outdoor art gallery, writes sweet to live in Estepona, Iona Napier
efI saw the huge, ornate as she was COULD have sworn Mary wink at me of a figy of the Virgin sea on the shoulders hoisted down to thesailors last summer. on the most bunch of strapping below the horizon As the sun dipped year, she was launched out electric night of theto be greeted by a flotilla of to sea in a dinghy to their plimsoll lines with lamp-lit boats laden waded into the water to revellers, while others get a better look. on the night of the Virgen del This was Estepona that brings expats, Spanish Carmen, a festival down to the water’s agog. families and holidaymakers watch the proceedings edge en masse to answer to the Oxford-Camas the UK It’s surely Malaga’s as feisty and Spanish bridge boat race, British. event is uptight and is the last bastion of ‘big reFor many, EsteponaCosta del Sol. a ‘hangsort’ charm on the up its appeal with multicoThe town has ramped sprouting from not to ing garden’ of geraniums wall of every street, loured pots on every murals which can be spotmention the colourful ted across town. one better than the plantpots And it has gone orchidarium. with its exotic glass-domedwith more than 8,000 has welThe futuristic greenhouse and three waterfalls species of orchids 250,000 people over the last comed more thanthey continue to arrive by the 12 months and coach load.
I
olive press The original and only English-language investigative newspaper in Andalucía
streets
(top left) geranium-lined strip street art and act with beautiful axes are the beachfront cleaned up its The two busiest and the road through the old Estepona has de (Avenida Espana) IMPRESSIVE: high si- for everyone. Terraza), while horseshoe-shaped maps from the Plaza the ocean and the turf in First, grab a fistful of the old town’s prettiest town (Calle Andalucia curves protectively around in and Sandwiched between Avenida de Estepona does surf Flores tourist office 20 erras of Bermeja, the old ditty about Jack Sprat square (or the other office in the marina). Continued Page art walk and a poetry town style. And just like the traditional old up ei- With two walking tours, an Estepona is on foot. prop to see and his wife, between modern port which something route, the best way and the bustling there’s ther end of the promenade,
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Vol. 10 Issue 238
Amy’s stepdad ‘gutted’ brother
Suicidal
“The prosecution case is that Mahon stabbed Dean Fitzpatrick in the abdomen. “There was a piece of intestine protruding,” he said. “In common terms, he had been gutted.” Dean’s girlfriend Sarah O’Rourke told the court that Mahon threatened to ‘stick a knife into my head or neck’. The jury heard that Mahon attempted to flee the scene, later claiming Dean had accidentally walked onto the knife, then changing his story to say Dean was suicidal. Fitzpatrick’s sister, Amy, went missing in Spain on New Year’s Day 2008, with continuing questions raised about her relationship with her mother and Mahon. Mahon and his partner, Audrey Fitzpatrick, moved with Amy and Dean to Spain in 2004. The Olive Press revealed that she had been unhappy, drinking and was living semi-rough in the Calahonda area, before she went missing.
April 27th - May 10th 2016
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Getting a grilling
STILL MISSING: Amy
THE stepfather of missing Amy Fitzpatrick has finally gone on trial for murder. Former Mijas estate agent Dave Mahon is accused of killing the missing teenager’s brother in a savage stabbing incident. A court in Dublin heard how Mahon, 46, literally ‘gutted’ his stepson Dean, 23, like a fish in the attack in May 2013. The jury heard how a row had broken out over the tampering of Mahon’s bicycle outside a gym. The pair squared up over the incident at Mahon’s home later that evening, after he had been drinking heavily. “Mahon arrived back in and had a carving knife,” said prosecution barrister Remy Farrell.
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the good life
Olive Press meets world’s best chefs including Ferran Adria (left), and Daniel Humm Turn to Page 7
One-way injustice A DISABLED expat is being forced out of his home so a one-way system can be built. Retired bricklayer John Gray, 76, and his wife Deborah have been given just two months to vacate their dream home after receiving a compulsory purchase order from Alhaurin el Grande Town Hall. The couple have brought in lawyers after they were offered an ‘insulting’ €35,000 for their property, which cost them three times as much after renovations. “It is completely heart-breaking,” telesales worker Deborah, 57, told the Olive Press. “I am going crazy at the moment, but I have not given up hope. “I have to keep going with my life, but I have started packing in case the worst happens.” She added: “To offer us €35,000 is an insult. It is a third of what we have spent on it and you cannot buy another
property for miles around for that sort of money.” The couple had bought the two-bedroom, two-bathroom home for €66,000 after moving from Hertfordshire in 2003. They were later forced to spend a further €30,000 on renovations after John suffered from a stroke in 2014, leaving him with limited mobility and the need of a mobility scooter. He also suffers from a lung disease called COPD and is currently undergoing tests for suspected cancer. As well as looking after her husband, Deborah cares for her 77-year-old mother Christina, who suffers from a heart
condition. Plans for a one-way system were first mooted in 1994 before being put on hold. However, the Grays were only notified that the work was finally going ahead last year. They were initially told that they could stay in their home but would need to demolish their extension. However, in March the plans were changed and the new road will mean knocking down the entire home. The town hall has given the couple the option to take the €35,000 or move to a coowned plot ‘twice the size’, where they will have planning permission to build two houses. “It is all so vague and we have not got the money to build
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CRUEL: Couple’s fight for justice anyway,” Deborah added last night. “We simply don’t know what to do but hope that justice will prevail.” A spokesman for the town hall confirmed that plans for a one-way system were in place but would not confirm when work would begin or comment further on the case.
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fuengirola@ibexinsure.com CHARGED: Mahon and Audrey OLIVE PRESS – 70mm x 40mm FRONT COVER 27th April
Page 3
Priors: ‘We’ve been dumped on by Spanish politicians who are the dregs of the earth’
Expats slam ‘insulting’ compulsory purchase of their home EXCLUSIVE By Rob Horgan
‘King of Marbella’ thrown in jail over Bentley’s flash number plate
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Pixies and Pete head to Spain for best-ever summer festival lineup Page 16