Man wanted in Lisa case caught with 17 migrants
A MAN wanted in connection with the alleged killing of missing Scottish expat Lisa Brown has been arrested trying to smuggle 17 Albanian migrants into the UK on a yacht.
The 55-year-old Briton was already being sought over the mother-of-one’s disappearance in Spain when he was held with the migrants at an exclusive marina in Chichester, West Sussex.
Miss Brown, 32, originally from Alexandria, Dunbartonshire, is feared dead after vanishing from her home near the upmarket port of Sotogrande in southern Spain last November.
Her nine-year-old son has been looked after by his Spanish father with the help of her family since she disappeared. Her boyfriend at the time she went missing, Liverpoolborn Simon Corner, 33, was held on a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) on April 14 in Denmark and extradited to Spain earlier this month.
He is being held on remand in jail after being quizzed in court on suspicion of her murder.
The identity of the 55-year-old man held at Chichester has not been disclosed but he is reported to be a friend of Corner with common business interests, and insiders have confirmed he was a fugitive from Spanish justice over the case.
The Spanish authorities had issued a European Arrest Warrant for the middle-aged Briton who is now in custody pending interview by immigration enforcement investigators.
Sources said he had also owned a 34ft yacht, called DayDream, in Lanzarote, which Spanish Civil Guard Vanished without trace: Lisa Brown investigators were searching for a second day yesterday.
Spanish detectives are probing the possibility that DayDream may have been involved in disposing of Miss Brown’s body at sea if fears she is dead are confirmed.
Corner was made a wanted man after failing to show for questioning over Miss Brown’s sudden disappearance. He vanished hours after being interviewed by Civil Guard officers as a witness and surfaced in the Far East before returning to Spain in January.
A judge issued the EAW after he failed to honour a pledge to meet investigators based in the southern port city of Algeciras.
Corner, who was jailed for three months in Gibraltar in May 2014 for possession of an offensive weapon after a nightclub altercation, was born Dean Woods before changing his name after run-ins with British police.
He has continued to protest his innocence through lawyers.
A third Briton arrested in Spain in connection with Miss Brown’s disappearance has been bailed.
The man arrested in Chichester was detained on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration, while his passengers were held on suspicion of entering the UK illegally.
‘A fugitive from Spanish justice’