The victim had previously been held in custody for his alleged role in an armed raid at a cannabis club
A British man shot a number of times in a Costa Blanca car park is believed to be one of Merseyside’s former most wanted. The man cheated death when a shooter pumped over a dozen bullets at his vehicle during a botched assassination attempt on the south coast of Spain.
The Liverpool man is said to have been hit in the arm, leg and chest before raising the alarm about the shooting by alerting a neighbour as the gunman fled. The shooting, at around 10pm on December 11, took place in an underground garage in a residential area of Orihuela Costa, north of Torrevieja, called Lomas de Cabo Roig.
Images widely shared on social media and in the Spanish press showed the front windscreen riddled with bullet holes. The victim was taken to a local hospital for emergency surgery. He was said to have been in a serious condition in the intensive care unit.
The man targeted was identified in the local press as one of two British people arrested and still being investigated over an armed robbery at a cannabis club last year. He is said to have been allowed to leave prison on bail in November; around seven months after he was arrested and held in custody.
Sources have told the ECHO that the victim is from the Bootle area and has previously been named among Merseyside Police’s most wanted for drugs offences and links to gang activity.
The ECHO understands the car park shooting is linked to the killing of a 29-year-old British man, whose body was discovered at a housing development in the Campoamor area of Alicante. The victim’s body was reported to have been found with several bullet wounds on December 21, but the Spanish police did not confirm the investigation until days after Christmas.
A source has told the ECHO that the shootings are linked to British and Irish organised drug gangs in the Vega Baja area of Alicante.
The victim of the car park shooting was allegedly involved in an armed raid on a San Fulgencio cannabis club. Local reports said he and a second man, 33, broke in allegedly wielding machine guns before making off with cash and €5,000 worth of products in October 2024.
Local newspaper The Olive Press said the pair then demanded €25,000 and future profits before threatening the owner and his family. He allegedly attempted to evade authorities by changing his name but was eventually apprehended following a standoff.
The fatal shooting on December 21 is being investigated by the Judicial Police of the Alicante command of the Guardia Civil. A spokesperson for the police said: “The Orihuela Court of Instruction has sealed the proceedings,” meaning there’s a blackout of official information being passed to the media.
Spanish authorities do not tend to release information to the media while an investigation is ongoing.
The December shootings follow a number of other gun-related incidents from earlier this year with suspected links to Merseyside.
Bootle man Steven Gray, 32, was fatally shot “in the back” in the British holiday resort of Calahonda in Spain on Easter Monday. A burnt-out car with two fire-damaged firearms inside was found a short while later.
The following month Scottish gangsters Eddie Lyons Jnr and Ross Monaghan were gunned down in Fuengirola on May 31 while watching a football match. Michael Terrence Riley, 44 and of Huyton but formerly of Bootle, has been extradited from the UK to stand trial accused of their murders.
Southern Spain is colloquially referred to as the “Costa del Crime” due to the high number of organised crime groups who use its shores as a centre of operations. The coastal area, which was historically popular due to lax extradition laws, now sees British and Irish gangs battling with cartels from South America and eastern Europe to gain a foothold.