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Vol. 5 Issue 115
Swap the buzzing tourist hotspots for something more relaxing... see Quieter twins on page 12 SCAN here for the latest news
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Runway rejection SPAIN'S Transport Minister, Oscar Puente, has rejected calls for a second runway at Alicante-Elche airport and believes that a new second terminal can deal with rising passenger numbers. Puente said that a second terminal will help the airport to cope with 26 million passengers per year, as opposed to the current number of 16 million. He stated that 'airlines do not want' a second runway, but if one was needed, 'it would be built'. Local politicians and business groups have been campaigning for a second runway, as a necessity. The Alicante Chamber of Commerce published an economic impact study report last week into having a second runway. Chamber president, Carlos Baño, said: “There will be airlines that will have to stop flying to Alicante because they will not have a runway.” He claimed that carriers would be ‘forced to look elsewhere’ due to saturation caused by a lack of a second runway. The airport this week announced an April passenger record with nearly 1.6 million travellers - 10.8% more than a year earlier. The first four months of 2024 has seen a cumulative total of 4.8 million passengers - up 18.5% on the same period in 2023.
May 16th - May 29th 2024
A BRITISH couple have been arrested for allegedly running a prostitution ring in Spain - after being prosecuted for the SAME crime in the UK. Lord Neil Lock and Natalie Lock, both 43, are awaiting extradition accused of human trafficking and money laundering, the Olive Press can reveal. The pair, who have four children all living in Spain, are currently being held in separate Madrid prisons. Sources told this paper the Scottish couple are accused of operating the sex ring from Madrid and previously Alicante and Granada. It comes 14 years after they raked in almost half a million pounds from their illegal escort business in Britain, for which they were convicted. The family moved to Spain after Neil was discharged from prison. The couple quickly launched various businesses around the country, managing phone lines for prostitutes offering sex. It is understood they did the same for punters in the UK, where they are now facing extradition. The pair are understood to have been operating the businesses since moving to Baza, in inland Granada, in 2015, after Lock got out of prison. A local Spaniard told the Olive Press: “They had a huge house encircled by mafia-style walls and a big steel gate. “There were also several outbuildings which they converted into offices for the business, where they would be answering phones on behalf of the call girls. They were effectively their agents or pimps.”
LORD OF THE RING
British couple - one a ‘lord’ - are accused of running an illegal brothel network in Spain By Laurence Dollimore
He claimed they employed various expats and locals to man the phones. He added: “When things got too hot in Baza, they moved to Madrid, via Alicante, I believe.
Huge
“They now have a huge home on the outskirts of the capital, near the mountains.” Photos from social media show the family enjoying life on the Cos-
NO NEED: Oscar Puente
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ta Blanca. Throughout 2021, one of the couple’s sons regularly posted pictures of himself taking in the sights of Elche, in Alicante, on his Instagram account. More recently the family, including mother Natalie and father Neil, have been sharing updates from their life in Madrid. They can be seen supporting the local football team Atletico and wining and dining in top restaurants - plus enjoying luxury holidays abroad. They are said to have moved from Baza after ‘upsetting the locals by flashing their cash and showing off their lavish lifestyle’, including ‘pool parties, hog roasts and magicians’. The local added: “Too many people started asking questions about how they made their money.” The husband and wife hit the headlines in 2010 after it emerged they had hired a police officer as a call girl. WPC Victoria Thorne was rumbled after she was found being advertised as ‘Kelly’ on the couple’s ‘Notorious Girls’ website. Neil also recruited her as an informant to supply inside information on his competitors and circle of prostitutes. At trial, Newcastle Crown Court
heard the Locks had made £447,804 (€520,274) from the prostitution ring but not all of it could be recouped because much of it had been spent. Under the Proceeds of Crime Act, Neil was ordered to return just £43,826 (€50,921) while his wife, due to a lack of assets, had to pay a token £1. The pair admitted conspiracy to control prostitution for gain and conspiracy to manage brothels while Thorne pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office. Neil also pleaded guilty to possessing a shotgun without a certificate and possession of liquid Ecstasy. Neil was jailed for four years while Natalie received a suspended sentence.
Inmates
A spokesperson from Spain’s prison service said it was unable to comment on specific inmates due to ‘data protection laws’. The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) confirmed the case and referred us to West Midlands police, who were handling the investigation. A spokesperson for the force said: “As the two arrested in Spain have not yet been charged, we cannot confirm names. We are awaiting extradition.”
EXCLUSIVE CHEERS: Natalie and Neil Lock enjoyed pool parties, hog roasts and magical entertainment as they splashed the cash
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See page 5
As missing Madeleine McCann would have reached 21 this week - and it’s 17 years since she was abducted in Portugal - the Olive Press painstakingly traces the movements of her likely German expat abductor around southern Spain and the Algarve in May 2007 See page 6