Yzabelle Bostyn
MOST wanted serial murderer in Spain, the ‘Orchard Killer’ has been arrested while it is revealed he has previously been jailed for a terror attack plot.
French police have arrested a man wanted by Spanish authorities for the murder of three farmers between November 22 2023 and January 5 2024.
The suspect was caught in Beziers, southern France yesterday on suspicion of triple murder.
His spate of attacks ended with Ramon Rossell, 84, who was brutally attacked with shears while working on his Lleida finca on January 5, 2024.
The suspect reportedly stole Rossell’s car and fled to France, where police lost track of him after spotting him on a border security camera. He was the final victim of the ‘Orchard Killer’.
In January, police identified the suspected murderer in Beziers after spotting Rossell’s vehicle. He was arrested on March 25 under a European Arrest Warrant.
Despite being 200km from the other two murders, police connected Rossell’s death and the second victim after finding their red Opel Corsa near the site of the 84-year-old’s murder.
Jose Luis Aguado, 80, was killed at his Ribaforada, Navarra orchard on December 21, 2023.
He was found stabbed to death on a farm in Ribaforada – also in Navarra, on December 21.
PHOTO: La Sexta
Investigators say the man was found with deep cuts to his head and the back of his skull.
His death followed that of Pedro Oyon, 68, the first victim of the ‘Orchard Killer.’
He was stabbed to death while harvesting olives in Tudela in November 2023. His wife raised the alarm when he failed to return.
According to the French press, two agents were injured during attempts to arrest the man and they had to subdue him with a taser.
The man, believed to be from north Africa, had a criminal record in Spain as a result of links to Islamic terrorist organisations.
He spent two years in prison between 2016 and 2018 after being arrested in Irun, near San Sebastian.
It is thought he tried to go to Syria to fight with the Islamic State and had planned a terrorist attack involving driving a car into pedestrians.
He was subsequently tried for indoctrination in 2020 but was absolved. Even so, he was ordered to wear an ankle tracker, which he removed in September 2023, with investigators losing his trail in the Basque Country.
Now, he will be tried by Spanish authorities.
