Fleeing justice ...again
Suspect in hunt for missing Lisa on run a second time
A CONVICTED criminal facing trial over the disappearance of Scottish expat Lisa Brown has gone on the run for the second time.
An arrest warrant was issued for Simon Corner, 35, by a Spanish court after he breached bail conditions.
It emerged last night that Liverpoolborn Corner went missing around six weeks before he officially became a wanted man.
Court officials confirmed a national – not an international – arrest warrant had been issued, meaning police outside Spain would not be empowered to detain him unless he committed a crime in their country.
Corner’s disappearance echoes his flight to the Far East shortly after Miss Brown went missing on November 4, 2015. He vanished again in January 2016 after failing to keep a promise to meet police who wanted to question him.
Miss Brown was 32 when she vanished from her home in Cadiz, south-west Spain. No trace of the mother of one – originally from Alexandria, Dunbartonshire – has ever been uncovered.
Last night, Miss Brown’s brother, Craig Douglas, said: ‘We never thought it was a good idea to release Corner on bail. We warned the Spanish authorities he was likely to disappear given half a chance. The fact he has not been seen for six weeks means he could be a long way off by now. He might be abroad already for all we know.
‘We are very concerned that Corner should be found as quickly as possible and put back before a court.’
Corner was held on a European Arrest Warrant in April 2016 in the Danish capital of Copenhagen. He was extradited to Spain the following month but released on bail 11 months later.
As part of his bail conditions, Corner – jailed for three months in Gibraltar in May 2014 for possession of an offensive weapon after a nightclub altercation – had to sign in at court twice a month and hand over his passport.
A judge made him a wanted man again after he missed at least two signing-on sessions.
He is being investigated on suspicion of Miss Brown’s death as part of an ongoing criminal investigation led by a court in the southern Spanish town of San Roque, near where she lived.
Corner is a seasoned sailor who has had easy access to boats.
A well-placed court source said: ‘An arrest warrant has been issued for Simon Corner. It is a national arrest warrant. It was issued about a month ago because he had gone about a month and a half without signing on.
‘He was supposed to sign in on the 1st and 15th of each month as part of his bail conditions and he missed at least two dates without informing his lawyers or the court he was going to do so.’
Court officials were unable to explain why it had taken so long to issue the warrant and
‘Warned police he’d disappear’
why it covers only Spain – although it is understood a European Arrest Warrant can be quickly issued if there is information he is in the UK or another part of the EU.
Spanish police fear Miss Brown is dead and have drained rivers and searched wasteland near her home, close to Gibraltar.
It emerged in September 2016 that Madrid-based forensic specialists who had analysed DNA found in blood stains at Miss Brown’s home had concluded that a violent incident involving her and Corner had taken place at her property.
Sources close to the case have hinted they believe Miss Brown’s body could have been disposed of at sea – but a burial on land has never been ruled out.
Corner has claimed he has no idea where his girlfriend Miss Brown has gone and says that he is innocent of any wrongdoing.
Miss Brown’s son Marco, 11, is being cared for by his father, Tony Tomillero, at his home in La Linea, near Gibraltar, with the help of Miss Brown’s relatives.
When Corner was granted bail on April 4 last year, court sources said it was on the advice of state prosecutors after several unsuccessful attempts by his lawyers to get him out of prison.