Video: Police arrest wanted Scottish man on popular Costa del Sol beach in connection with sexual assaults on two women

Juan Cano

Malaga

Thursday, 4 July 2024, 12:03 | Updated 13:11h.

He had a lifestyle closely linked to sport. He practised physical activity on a daily basis and thanks to this he had integrated himself into the sporting community of Nerja, on the eastern strip of Spain's Costa del Sol, under a false identity to keep him safe from his past. But the Guardia Civil managed racked him down and arrested him while he was practising calisthenics, a set of exercises that does not require fitness machines, as it is based on the use of the body itself, on one of the town's beaches.

The arrested man, a 55-year-old Scottish national, was wanted by the British authorities for two alleged offences of sexual assault on women. He has not yet been prosecuted on these charges, as police last lost track of him just before the trial. His car was left by a lake, probably trying to fake an involuntary disappearance or suicide.

The police operation in Spain began when the British National Crime Agency received an anonymous tip-off that the fugitive might be living in the town of Nerja, so the team immediately contacted the Guardia Civil's central operations unit (UCO).

Zoom

This information, together with the information available on the fugitive, which indicated that he had a lifestyle closely linked to sport, allowed the officers to trace him to the Costa del Sol, locating a person who was closely integrated in the sporting community as a possible target of the investigations.

Once he was located and placed under discreet and continuous surveillance, after certifying with the British authorities that he was the person who had fled, the fugitive was arrested while practising calisthenics in a sports area on the beach of Nerja.

The man, described as dangerous by Police Scotland, was accused of sexually assaulting two women he had met through a dating app. The trial for these offences was held in abeyance pending the discovery of his whereabouts, as he fled the country in 2022 when authorities reported that his car had been located on the shore of a loch in Scotland.