Walter Finch
A SOBBING female detective tipped off the parents of a British expat who had died under suspicious circumstances to look at their son’s body with their own eyes before cremating him.
Sandra and Rob Adams were close to signing the forms after police told them that Brett Dryden, 35, had died from a blood clot on his lungs.
But they claim a moment of emotion revealed something that shifted the entire investigation – and shook their lives to its emotional core.
“When Rob went to the police station, one of the female detectives started crying and said to him ‘you need to look further into this – you need to go see the body because he’s got more injuries than they’re telling you,’” Sandra, 57, told the Olive Press.
The police had closed the case just two days after Brett’s body was found in his seaside apartment in Mojacar, Almeria, on July 21, 2024.
“It was only after I got to the funeral home, and they were hurrying me to sign the papers for his cremation, that I noticed the brand-new iPhone 15 I had just got him as a gift was gone.”
“Then I noticed all his belongings were missing. That’s when the penny dropped for me – that something wasn’t right.”
Sandra had to rush to the courthouse in Mojacar to get an order to stop her son’s body being cremated – and destroying crucial evidence in what she was now certain was foul play.
Shockingly, the police closed the case despite an autopsy revealing the father-of-one had been badly beaten, with bruising and cuts to his jaw and a gaping, 4cm crescent-shaped gash just above his right eye.
Newly-released video from the home reveals a blood-spattered sofa and curtains, while blood can be seen smeared across the walls and a macabre handprint planted next to a light switch.
It was an ordeal for Sandra and Rob that has been shared by a number of British families who have lost loved ones in Spain over the past year.
“The lady in the funeral home said she’d never seen anything like it,” Sandra continued. “They just wanted to get it over and done with – get him down to ashes – as quickly as possible.”
According to Sandra, after a judge ordered the case to be reopened, the Guardia Civil sent down one of their top officers from the regional capital in Almeria to ‘tear strips off of everyone’.
On the day he died, Brett was supposed to meet friends for lunch. In his last phone call, he told a friend, “I have to go now, they’re here,” – leading Sandra to be certain “Brett knew his killers.”
READ MORE: British family demand answers over ‘murder’ of expat dad at his seaside home in Spain’s Andalucia
CCTV acquired by step-father Rob, 54, from a neighbour shows three figures absconding with a bag that looked like the one Brett used to carry the takings from the cannabis club he set up in 2019.
“Brett’s death has brought a lot of paranoia to the community,” one close friend told the Olive Press.
“People have a lot of theories about who might be behind it, that there’s someone out there capable of doing this.
“There’s paranoia towards the police too – if there’s CCTV of these guys, people should be arrested.
“I think the Guardia Civil thought ‘we can’t have a murder here in summer’, so they just wanted to cover it up and brush it off as an accident, especially as it was seemingly a drug-related case.”
Today, nearly one year on, the family are no closer to solving Brett’s murder, while the Guardia Civil will only confirm that the case “remains open”.
With the anniversary of Brett’s death fast approaching, the family – including Brett’s 6-year-old daughter – will return to Mojacar to lay flowers, set lanterns and hand out leaflets to locals in Spanish.
READ MORE: ‘Justice for our baby brother’: Hope for British tourist’s family as Spanish police reopen case as murder
“I find it really disturbing how quickly they shut the case down,” Sandra added, echoing the concerns of other British families who’ve lost loved ones in Spain.
She revealed that she is in touch with the bereaved families of other Brits who have been met with similar disinterest from the Spanish police.
One of those includes the family of Nathan Osman, 30, who died after falling from a cliff in Benidorm in September 2024.
Father-of-four Nathan, from Pontypridd, became separated from his friends after going out on the first day of a Benidorm lads’ holiday last September.
He was found at the foot of a 200-metre cliff, but the Policia Nacional dismissed his death as either accidental or suicide and immediately closed the case.
His siblings managed to convince a court to reopen his case only in March after they tirelessly carried out their own investigation themselves, going door to door making inquiries and securing crucial CCTV.
READ MORE: Family gets investigation reopened into Benidorm death of father-of-four who plunged off cliff
They eventually gathered a dossier of evidence that showed their brother was a family man – not another ‘drunk Brit’ in Benidorm.
The two families have been supporting one another with advice on dealing with the Spanish police and finding reliable lawyers, among other hurdles.
The Olive Press is aware of a wider support network of more families of Brits killed in Spain who have asked to remain anonymous for this article.
“But there’s a real strong pattern here of the police just ignoring – just not doing their job – when it comes to crimes involving British people,” Sandra concluded.
Click here to read more Almeria News from The Olive Press.
This is really very disconcerting. The police force in any major country, especially those within the EU, must be respected for diligently carrying out their duties in a transparent manor. Without this they will not have the respect of the public. Let’s hope for some follow up news which will help ease the pain of the concerned families.
This isn’t the first time an wont be the last