Costa Blanca
Expats Under Attack, ITV highlights robberies suffered by Brits in rural Spain
By m.p.
Feb 25, 2008 - 11:23 PM

A programme which the EFE news agency said was due to be broadcast on ITV this Monday night led the Mayor of Benidorm, Manuel Pérez Fenoll, to accuse the channel of ‘hidden interests’ in trying to ‘damage the city’s interests.’ He said it aimed to divert British tourists to other destinations in competition with Spain, and said it was based on lies and malicious rumours.

The EFE news agency said the programme reported on crime levels in Benidorm and the robberies suffered by British tourists. It was said to speak of organised gangs from Eastern Europe who target properties outside the town centre.

An ITV programme broadcast on Monday night, ‘Expats Under Attack,’ did indeed mention the Costa Blanca and the robberies suffered by British expats. It spoke of foreigners, especially Brits, being targeted by criminal gangs in Spain, and one person interviewed said police in Spain are poorly paid and tend not to want to spend too much time on a specific case. In Málaga province, it noted a stabbing in Fuengirola, and highlighted the case of Gary Dunne, who was stabbed to death near Torremolinos, Málaga province, in March 2006, and whose family have been fighting for permission to bring his body home for burial.

There was no mention of Benidorm on the Costa Blanca, but an area which did receive some attention was Torrevieja, where the programme noted a number of robberies suffered by residents in inland areas. Reporters said offences have fallen dramatically in the municipality as a whole, but added that the story is not the same inland, and interviewed a British woman who said she and her husband are now too scared to return to their inland home after a robbery where thieves broke in and threatened them with an axe.

She added, however, that despite the fact they are now living in a much smaller apartment and will probably never return to their house in the country, they have no intention of leaving Spain after living here for more than two decades.

Meanwhile ITV has asked for us to print the following statement:
The Tonight programme, which airs this evening on ITV1, does not make any reference whatsoever to the death of a Scottish man who died after he was mugged in Benidorm town centre last December. We strongly refute any suggestion that we have “hidden interests” in trying to damage the city’s image.

The programme does not focus on the Benidorm tourist resort but predominantly looks at crime against ex-pats who have moved inland from the coast to more remote areas. The programme reflects the genuine concerns and experiences of British ex-pats that have been victims of home invasions and burglaries; and includes interviews with local journalists and crime writers on the Eastern European gangs targeting parts of Spain.

It is a balanced report that also refers to the successful efforts by Spanish police to combat crime in some areas of the Costas and comments by the Mayor of Torrevieja that offences have fallen by 40 per cent. Our report also includes a statement from the Spanish embassy that says that the rate of criminality in Spain is below the average of the European Union and below that of the UK.