Elisa Menendez
A BRITISH politician has waded into the case of a seriously ill British man who has been locked up with terrorists for more than two months in Spain.
Chichester MP Gillian Keegan has been in touch over the arrest of Robert Anthony Mansfield-Hewitt, who has yet to be charged since being arrested over drug-dealing claims in June.
The consultant engineer, who insists he is innocent, has yet to be charged over the 1.5 tonnes of hashish police found in the garage of the villa he rented.
He insists he has absolutely ‘no connection’ to the drugs that were being stored at the lodging in Campamento, in San Roque.
The owner of the villa, the Olive Press understands, was charged for importing cocaine into Gibraltar last year.
His British MP Keegan told the Olive Press she was ‘very concerned’ about the situation and was speaking to his secretary in Gibraltar.
In a case that also has strange parallels to the plight of Scottish student Robbie McMiller who was arrested in October last year after six marijuana plants were found in his rental property, Mansfield-Hewitt was woken up and ‘dragged out of bed practically naked at gunpoint’ by police officers at 8.30pm on June 27.
Colleagues and friends told the Olive Press that Mansfield-Hewitt, who has a PhD and no criminal record, is an ‘innocent man’ and has been wrongfully imprisoned.
They added that the Chichester-baised engineer is currently in a critical condition and is being held in the medical wing at Botafuegos prison in Algeciras – a dangerous jail, which notoriously houses a number of Basque ETA terrorists.
Robert’s PA Pilar Ford added she had not had any contact with Robert since August 18.
“We have not had any telephone calls – it’s very worrying,” she said, “Usually he calls two to three times a week.”
Robert’s lawyer, Jose Maria Castro Escudero, told the paper two weeks ago that a judge was due to visit the prisoner and make a decision on whether to grant bail.
“He is desperate,” added Castro Escudero.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated Robert Mansfield-Hewitt booked the rental apartment through Airbnb. Although the property had been available on the rental site, he did not book it through Airbnb. The property listing has since been deleted from the site and Airbnb said they were ‘investigating’ the owner’s account.
