Walter Finch
A WOMAN who was under 24-hour police protection after her abusive ex managed to escape from jail was discovered to have been harbouring him in her squat all along.
She was placed at ‘extreme risk’ on April 2 after her ex-partner, whom she had a restraining order against, escaped Palma penitentiary centre.
The prisoner had managed to remove the electronic tag on his ankle while on prison leave and make good his getaway despite triggering a number of alarms.
In response, the victim was assigned a patrol car with two surveillance and security agents 24 hours a day by the UFAM (Family and Women Attention Unit).
After an initial review of the facility, the police officers took their position at the entrance, and whenever the woman entered or left her residence, she had an escort.
Over the next 12 days, more than 20 officers from the Citizen Security Brigade were stationed at the door of the old Palma prison where she was living as a squatter.
But the gig was up in the early hours of Friday morning when the officers stationed outside the old prison heard noises and shouting coming from inside.
They rushed into the premises to protect the woman from the man who had been violently abusing her, only to be told that everything was fine.
Suspicious of her protestations, the officers searched the house and there, hiding under a kitchen counter, they found the fugitive.
He was immediately arrested for breaching his restraining order and detained in response to a search warrant issued by a court in the Balearic capital.
The woman had duped her guarding officers while being escorted walking her dogs to let her violent ex-partner into the old prison.
She also misled investigators about the man’s whereabouts.
The police have compiled a report on the incident for the court.
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