Man arrested after British holidaymaker 'raped on night out in Spain'

A Moroccan man has been arrested after a British holidaymaker was reportedly raped on Spain’s Costa Blanca.

The 22-year-old was held following a lengthy investigation which began with detectives only having a photo of the suspect’s friend to go on. The British tourist, whose age has not been revealed but has been described as "young", was sexually attacked in August last year. The attack happened during a night out in Pilar de la Horadada just south of Torrevieja. She reported the crime to detectives at the time before flying back to the UK with her family.

The arrest in Pilar de la Horadada came after police tracked the suspect’s friend down to the northern Spanish town of Logrono nearly 500 miles away. It followed what the Civil Guard has described as "more than a year of exhaustive analysis of evidence" in an operation involving other police forces. A spokesman for the Civil Guard in Alicante said: "The Civil Guard, with the cooperation of local police in Pilar de la Horadada and Logrono, have arrested a man as the suspected author of the rape of a young foreign tourist."

The moment the 22-year-old was arrested (SOLARPIX.COM)

He added: "The incident occurred in August 2022 when a young British tourist, who was on holiday with her family in Spain, suffered a sexual attack near a popular going-out area in Pilar de la Horadada. The victim reported the incident but could offer no information about her aggressor. Police began gathering evidence as part of an operation codenamed Iven to prevent him from absconding.

"The victim was with a female friend when she met the alleged aggressor and a male friend of his. The rape occurred when the victim and the alleged aggressor were alone at one point. Initially, investigators only had the photo of the suspect’s friend to go on, which led officers to Logrono in the province of La Rioja where the friend was located and identified. After more than a year of exhaustive analysis of evidence, the alleged aggressor was identified, a man known to police who was of no fixed abode. He is a 22-year-old Moroccan. He was accused on suspicion of rape."

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The suspect is understood to have been released on bail following an appearance behind a judge in a closed court hearing. The judicial investigation is continuing. A number of British holidaymakers went to police to report sex crimes this year in Spain, with several others being arrested on suspicion of carrying them out. Last month a British man was charged with raping the female friend of his son at a Magaluf hotel and warned he faces up to nine years in prison if convicted. The 43-year-old’s lawyers failed to strike a plea bargain deal with state prosecutors at a court in Majorca today.

The hearing in the island capital Palma ended with a trial date being set in February next year over the alleged sex attack in May.
The suspect, who has not been named by the police or court officials ahead of his trial, was held at Palma Airport over the alleged rape after "packing his bags and trying to return to the UK hours later." The British woman, thought to be aged around 20, told detectives she was forced to have sex after spending the last night of her holiday in the same room as her friend and his dad because she was returning to Britain hours later and had already checked out of her own room.

The older man was said to have surprised her in the middle of the night after "taking advantage" of the fact she had consumed a large amount of alcohol and was fast asleep in a sofa bed despite her waking up and begging him to stop. Reports at the time said the dad’s son was still out partying.

A British 18-year-old was allegedly gang-raped at a hotel in Magaluf in the early hours of August. Five French nationals and a Swiss man were arrested and remanded in jail pending an ongoing judicial investigation and a further two suspects were subsequently held in France on European Arrest Warrants.