NEWS that a judge bailed a British gangster described as ‘extremely dangerous’ by police after he was already on bail for a separate murder attempt boggles the mind.
This is the man allegedly responsible for killing doorman Jose Pisani at a restaurant in Mijas last month.
‘Harry’ is known to police up and down the Costa del Sol as a violent armed criminal with, at least, two incredibly serious charges hanging over him.
And a judge lets him go free to roam the coast causing all the mayhem he likes.
The message this sends is simple – and depressing: While the coast is seeing an upsurge in mafia activity, the judiciary is dragging its feet. Or worse.
It just isn’t right that the ordinary, law-abiding residents of this region should run the risk of having an encounter with one of these thugs.
Any one of us might go to the wrong restaurant or bar at the wrong time. Cross paths with the wrong character and undergo a potentially life-altering trauma. As Pisani did.
Why on earth would a judge or prosecutors allow men charged with attempted murder, who point guns at police and hold military-grade arsenals in their apartments, to go free?
Or did they not realise who they were dealing with?
When Harry was arrested for the second time in just two months, did the Policia Nacional not talk to the Guardia Civil?
What’s more, did Fuengirola court check if he was already on bail or had two passports?
There are only two possible answers to these questions and it is hard to know which is worse.
The Spanish legal system needs to get a grip and put the safety of its citizens and residents ahead of departmental rivalry or general incompetence.
Or next time it could be a child or a mother in the crossfire!