Craig Mallon updates

David Swindle and Gillian Jack are joined by Debbie Smirthwaite of Victims Abroad to discuss updates in the ongoing case of Craig Mallon, a Scot who was killed in Lloret de Mar, Spain, on 19 May 2012. This episode features Ian Mallon, Craig's dad. 

If you were in Lloret de Mar that night, please get in touch via info@craigmallon.com

Check out social media for more info:

David Swindle Twitter

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Gillian Jack Twitter

Victims abroad Twitter

Kirsty Maxwell campaign Twitter

Craig Mallon campaign Twitter

Other important links

Victims Abroad website

What happened to Kirsty Maxwell website

Craig Mallon website

Kirsty Maxwell charity website

For enquiries related to the podcast, research or business opportunities, please contact david@davidswindle.com.

Transcript

Ian Mallon: Hi there, Ian Mallon here. On Friday the 19th of May, I will be down at the cemetery of my son Craig Mallon, who was murdered in 2012 in Lloret de Mar at a stag do weekend. We were assured by Spanish police that they would follow all leads of inquiry and they had positive leads of inquiry. And 11 years later, I am no further forward in receiving any justice or finding out who was the perpetrator in my son's death.

Gillian Jack: Welcome to the revamped Swindle's Search for the Truth Podcast. I'm Dr. Gillian Jack, and with me in the studio today is Debbie Smirthwaite of Victims Abroad who lives in Spain. And of course, David Swindle. 

David Swindle: Well, great to have you on board, Gillian, and, um, I really appreciate what you're doing. Um, it's a sad case we're going to be speaking about today. Uh, a sad case. It should have been resolved at the time.

Debbie Smirthwaite: Yeah, we're gonna be speaking about Craig Mallon's case this morning, um, which is very close to my heart in Lloret DeMar, which is where I'm normally based. 

Gillian: Craig's case has, um, featured in several of our previous episodes. It's a tragic, unresolved homicide of a UK citizen and Scot, who was killed 11 years ago by a single punch within hours of arriving at the Spanish holiday resort of Lloret de Marr.

I believe you, David and Debbie and other members of victims abroad have been working with Craig's family for years, trying to push for lines of inquiry to be done by the Spanish authorities. And there have been all sorts of problems with the Spanish lawyers' confusion. Um, By the Spanish courts about people who feature as potential suspects.

Though I understand there's been, um, some good stuff recently regarding a Spanish investigative journalist and a new lawyer, which may bring some hopes of progress. 

David: Absolutely. Um, what's happened with this? This is a case that could have been resolved and solved at the very start. It was, uh, a sad incident where, uh, a young man with a promising life ahead of him, uh, was assaulted, fatally assaulted in a busy street in Spain where there were lots of people around who would see what happened. Yes, lots of people had alcohol, but there was people there that could have pieced it together. Sadly, there was no CCTV at that spot. And even to this day, 11 years later, there's no CCTV at that spot where Craig was killed. Um, so the, the, the lines of inquiry were difficult because of the transient population in Lloret de Mar, various holiday makers coming and going.

Um, and there was CCTV in some of the nightclubs, and we were able to piece it together. But this is a case that if this happened in the uk, I would like to think that this would've been resolved very quickly. Sadly, 11 years on. And Debbie, uh, Debbie has done a lot of work, uh, locally with it. There's also been a TV program called Killed Abroad, about Craig's case since that TV program, the BBC TV program things have changed quite a bit. There's been progress, there's been people identified as, uh, potential suspects. Um, so Debbie, you, you've been heavily involved from a local point of view and you, you, you've made some real inroads, uh, as regards, you know, the, the local Spanish publicity because the answers lie in Spain and in France for reasons that you're going to explain soon and hopefully, things are going to change soon as a result of some new things that you've been involved in.

Debbie: Yeah. Well, I think this is the importance of, um, of, of being in contact with local people on the ground. It, um, it makes a big difference. When, when I first started, um, looking at Craig's case with David, um, I remember David, we were, look, uh, you were looking for, um, a particular witness. And I remember saying, I'm sure I could find that witness because I live locally and, and you're more aware of the the conditions locally. And um, I said, but it'd probably take me a couple of years and then we ended up locating her fairly quickly. Now that witness wasn't useful in terms of having what she saw, but she was useful in helping us narrow down time scales. Um, so really anyone who was in the area at the time would be interesting, uh, to speak to.

Uh, so, you know, that's the, that that's how important it is, um, being on the ground. 

Gillian: It's an interesting point, Debbie, that um, what we're looking for is, is really to speak to anyone who was there and not just people who think that they've necessarily seen something vital to what happened to Craig.

There's lots of bits of information that might be useful to us. 

David: Well That's something that I 

Debbie: David, David always says. 

David: Yeah, that's . You were about to quote my phrase and 

Debbie: I was. 

David: Alright. Please don't assume we know what you know. And that is the thing, and this happens all the time in murder investigations in the UK as well, uh, members of the public, they, they see something, think it might not be relevant, and they're try and assess it themselves.

And it's, you know, they should never try and work out if that's not relevant because every small piece of information helps piece together which sounds terrible, but the bigger picture, the circumstances because the, there will be, people saw this, in fact, there is a woman that are still trying to trace, Debbie, this is the English speaking woman.

What's the details? 

Debbie: Yes, this, this was an English speaking woman who called the emergency services. We know that she was in a hotel around the square, um, where Craig was killed. Um, she said that she could see a fight. Um, the fight ensued after Craig was punched basically, there was no fight before Craig being punched, but she could see that fight.

She could see that there was someone on the floor. She called the emergency services and she spoke in English. Now, we might think that she was British, but of course she could also be from somewhere. Lloret has a, a massive influx of, uh, tourists from about April onwards from all countries. So somebody perhaps from Sweden or Norway might also speak English to the emergency services.

Um, but it would be very interesting to speak to that person because she definitely saw something. Um, but so far all the, all the attempts to locate that person have, um, have been unsuccessful. 

David: That was the early hours of the morning and the time of that call was exactly when it would be happening. Um, and, and it is significant that she's never been traced.

And again, it could be that she's just assuming that we know the information that she has, um, the information is vital and it helps piece it together. Um, 11 years on, she's never been traced. She might have left the town. She might not even be aware of the significance of her call. Um, and she's probably way back home or something like that.

Debbie: Yeah, there's, there's even the possibility, um, if it was someone who was leaving that day and we know there were coaches of people leaving that they were there with their luggage at that time of the morning cuz they were going, they've got early flights and so on. If it was someone who was leaving that day, they might not even have realized that someone had been killed. 

Um, they, they may have just called because they saw the fight, but not realized that the person who was on the floor, um, had suffered such, um, you know, fatal injury. So just, it really is interesting to speak to anyone who was in Lloret, you know, on those days, um, to, you know, to find out what they may have seen, heard, um, at the time. 

David: It, it's interesting, you know, that the reference to a fight that was after Craig, Craig was, uh, fatally, assaulted Craig's lying on the ground.

His friends were angry. They were angry at what had happened to them. And there was also, um, uh, a phrase that was shouted by, uh, the, the. One of the potential assailants was at fils de pute. Fils de pute, which means son of a bitch in French. Debbie. Yeah, in French. 

Debbie: That's right. Yeah. So there's a definite, um, there was a definite presence of French speaking people that night.

Um, several French in a group of French people at the scene. Um, and also inside the Rockefeller's disco, which was where they, they had spent the night. Um, up until then, so, um, we know there were, there were quite a big group of French people there um, and most of the witness statements, uh, reference um, French speaking people.

So we've, um, we've investigated, uh, quite a number of French people who we were able to locate at the scene. You have to imagine this was a square where there might have been up to, you know, between a hundred and two hundred people who'd just come out of the bars. And this goes and were standing around, chatting and so on.

So basically what we have we've done is we've taken groups that we, we knew were there, or we discovered were there from police. Um, CCTV footage and we've, uh, looked a little bit further basically. Um, so what we found is that some people who we could pinpoint at the scene were actually part of a larger group, a larger group of people.

So there definitely was a big French group there. But this is what we're concerned that the, that the police investigation hasn't really looked at. 

David: Yes, just, just confirming the date, it was the 19th of May, 2012. The 19th of May, 2012. And from what you're saying, Debbie, there was, uh, a group of French people and we know that there was French people on CCTV.

Um, there was French people that were seen. Again, no one's seen in CCTV actually committing the fatal assault. It's people that were in the close area, and there was a group of French people in that, and Ian Mallon, Craig's dad, who I actually caught up with recently, and they gave us some quotes, you know, about what it means to him.

Uh, and Ian, you know, he is a, a broken man. His wife died and oh, she never, she, it, it. Took her down, losing her only son, you know, she, she's had to try and live with that coat with the answers, and, and Antoinette died. Um, strong, strong appeals out there about it. 

Gillian: We heard Craig's dad at the beginning of the podcast. Here he is again. 

Ian: But the system is, it's broken and it's so unfair. Craig's mother. Certain times throughout the investigation she wanted to pull the plug cuz it was dragging both of us down. And she said, and it's true what she said, we're getting absolutely nowhere. It's one step forward and two steps back. Craig's mother passed on the 6th of April, 2018, six years after Craig, and I remember her saying she wondered if she would find out who killed Craig. I would justice be served before she passed. Sadly, she passed and she found out none of the two.

Really, really sad.

Myself and David Swindle continue to push forward, but there's only so much you do. And I remind myself, the words that Craig's mother spoke, Antoinette, one step forward, two steps back.

David: The French people that were on that CCTV in the police office, and, and you can explain what the significance of that is, Debbie, in a minute. But, but Ian wrote a letter to one of these people in Paris and, um, they never, they never came back, but they come back to say that they were in Barcelona, uh, when it happened.

But we know, fine well that they were back there because of the wrong times. This happened in the early hours, about, just early, six o'clock, seven o'clock are the timescales for when we're interested in people there. So the, you've done a lot of work, Debbie, researching, um, looking around things and, and you've now made a good journalistic contact, you've made a few. Lloret Gaceta is good. And you've got this, eh, well-known Catalan journalist Tura. Tell... Tura's interesting cause she's changed the scene recently. Yeah. 

Debbie: Yeah, she has a little bit. Um, Tura Soler is, um, she's a very well known journalist on a Catalan level. She's been working in, um, a local newspaper called El Punt Avui.

Uh, it used to be El Punt and now it's El Punt Avui cuz it was two newspapers combined. They merged. Um, and Tura is, she's really a household name in Catalonia in terms of crime journalism. Um, because she's, she's very trusted. Um, she's very sensible. She has uh, incredible, an incredible memory of every, um, case that's ever taken place on Catalan soil, I think.

Um, and she's taken an, an interest in, in Craig's case, because she's very interested in cases that haven't seen justice, basically, that haven't received justice. Um, she's recently published a book about, um, with, with another writer, Jordi Grau. They've published a book about, um, it's basically on 10, uh, crimes without punishment that have taken place so, um, her interest in these type of crimes is important and she has, um, a small, uh, patch on a, on a TV program on Fridays every, every Friday morning. So that's why people know her so well on Catalan tv. And this just, just this last week on Friday, um, she spoke about Craig's case. So we're just putting that out on social media the next few days.

David: Gillian's going to put that out in the notes. Gillian, I think you said you were gonna put it on the notes for the podcast. Yeah? 

Gillian: Yeah. We'll make sure that's available so people can find it and have a look at that. 

David: Yeah, it's in Spanish, but what we're going to do is arrange to get it also in English for, you know, English listeners as well um, because uh, what she's saying is very, very powerful. Um, she's obviously made her own investigations and she's speaking about, you know, a potential robbery. Uh, French men that were, uh, on the CCTV, you know, at the police office, um, French people that didn't have money earlier on when they were stopped by the local police and then having a significant amount of money, amount of money on them possession, uh, and they're seen in the area so is there a potential there.

But there's also the confusion, and this is a sad thing here, um, that there's so much confusion surrounding it and, um, about the French people and whether it's the correct French people that the Spanish authorities were focusing on. There was a thing called, it's called a commission rogatoire which is, uh, international process that is initiated for countries to request people in other countries to be interviewed and the Spanish authorities had initiated that a commission rogatoire, but Debbie, I think it was for the wrong people. Do you think so? 

Debbie: Well, we think so, yes. We, um, we, we studied as many French people as we could that were in the area, and we found that the, the group that we were interested in who had been in the police station because of the, to, to pay the, the fine for their car, um, Well, part of a much larger group. The Spanish police focused on two other, that, that larger group was, were, were basically all, um, connected to Paris.

They all live in Paris suburbs, as it were, a particular, uh, suburb of Paris. Um, but there were two other French speaking men who were in, um, a hotel. Now, they weren't from Paris, they were from Saint-Étienne, and they are the people who the police focused on and the reason they focused on them was because they left the hotel room early. I think it was about 12 hours early. Was it David? I think. 

David: Yes. 

Debbie: They left on the night after Craig was killed, when they should have left the following day. 

David: Yes. 

Debbie: That was basically the police's reasoning it seems for, for wanting to question them. Um, we'd, we actually ruled them out because they didn't fit any of the descriptions of any of the people at the scene.

David: The problem is there's a lot of confusion about descriptions. That is the thing. 

Debbie: Yeah. Well. 

David: But there is, but the, the, the thing is French people have featured in this inquiry from day one. When I went out there, uh, the year after Craig was killed with Craig's dad, Ian and his mum Antoinette. We met the Mossos d'Esquadra, and we met one of their senior officers and we asked the question about French people because this information had been given to Ian and the senior officer very quickly said, French people there's nothing to do with French people, nothing on it.

French people featured and, and I don't think they allowed the Mossos to go and make inquiries. Quick, fast track inquiries, and they get caught up on bureaucracy. There is not a single statement from a French person in that case file. And that is a sad thing. If French people are suspects, I would've thought they should have been interviewing them.

Um, it's sad. It's really sad. And it has kind of okay that during this there's been covid and things have been closed, and offices have been slow. But the way this is going, uh, the way this has been going, we've lost really four years because we had the covid. Inquired at the covid, uh, lockdowns, uh, offices closed, and then we personally had issues that we're dealing with as regards to the lawyer.

The previous lawyer that was there, and that lawyer, uh, is no longer involved in the case. She actually, Debbie and I had an arrangement to meet her last year. Um, and um, in 2022 in May, we went out 10 years after it, and she didn't meet us. The, the, the real. The, the British Consulate, they're limited to what they can do.

Um, but the women in Barcelona, Caroline de Jong, has been fantastic with this case and she above and beyond. And if people go into the website, craigmallon.com, you will see that when we got a bench, installed. There's a woman there with a black suit and flowers in the hand. That's a British consulate. She came to that all those years ago and all testament to her. It's fantastic help. Um, so I'm just hoping, uh, Debbie, that you know your contacts there, uh, with Tura and Tura's influences uh, and people listening to the podcast spreading this information, get it out there. There was loads of British people on holiday.

What, what's the triggers in that town? At the time, there was something about, um, who was a pop star that was there. Uh, she was in... 

Debbie: Oh, yeah, I think they filmed, was it Shakira that they filmed that that day? 

David: Shakira was, Shakira was in Lloret de Mar then. 

Debbie: Shakira was in Lloret yeah, that day. And also there was football on. Now I'm not very good on football. 

David: I think it was, Bayern Munich, it was a Bayern Munich game or something. It was a Champion's League game. Anything else then can, people can relate to? 

Debbie: Yeah, I'm trying to think. We did, we did do a, a list of a few things that CO that coincided with it, but um, It. I think it was a bank , was it a bank holiday weekend in the UK at the time?

David: It was as well. It was as well. But Shakira was in town before. Yeah. There was a lot of buzz about Shakira being in town. She was at one of the nightclubs. Uh, that's, yeah. And the last place Craig was in was Rockefellers nightclub.

Debbie: Yeah. 

David: And lots of British people go in there and we did trace a group of girls from Bristol that had been there, that met Craig and his friends. We traced other people. Uh.

Debbie: We traced, we've traced other groups that, um, that were doing either, you know, Hindus or Stags that weekend in Lloret as well. Um, although they don't seem to have been in exactly the same places at the same time. Um, So, you know, really all it all goes back to, to trying to find, um, find that either the English speaking witness, um, anyone who saw the French people, uh, you know, that's what we, and we really need to try and find a way with the new lawyers now of, um, encouraging the police to, to explore those avenues.

Yes. And, and also we're, we're talking about English people, any nationalities to come forward? Um, yeah. And, and the, there's French people there. So if you were a French person, you were in that area. And you weren't involved, you know, it might even be that the police will trace other French people, I hope. Um, but for French people in the area that were there and haven't contacted us, send us an email.

It's info@craigmallon.com or direct message the Swindle's Search for the Truth podcast. 

Gillian: Craig's case is ongoing. If you were in the Lloret de Mar that night, the 18th to the 19th of May, 2012 and saw anything, even if it doesn't seem important, please get in touch. Contact details are in the podcast info and at craigmallon.com.

If you weren't in Lloret de Mar, you can still help us by sharing this episode. Your share might help us reach someone with vital information. 

Thank you for listening. We'll be back soon with two powerful episodes recorded at Crime Con in London this weekend.