Spanish and UK police probing ‘concern for safety’ of missing man after shootings

Merseyside Police confirmed the National Crime Agency was facilitating Spanish investigations

Investigators in Spain and the UK are probing the disappearance of a Merseyside man believed to be an associate of a victim of a botched assassination attempt. Spanish sources have told the ECHO that the 28-year-old man is believed to have disappeared from the Costa Blanca area between late December last year and early January.

A spokesperson for Merseyside Police told the ECHO: “We can confirm a report was received of concern for the safety of a 28-year-old Merseyside man in Spain.

“The National Crime Agency are facilitating Merseyside Police’s enquiries with Spanish authorities who are conducting the investigation, and have offered the family of the man specialist support.”

The ECHO has chosen not to reveal the identity of the man at this time while the circumstances around his disappearance are established.

He is believed to have been living in Spain for a number of years after leaving Merseyside. The ECHO understands he comes from a prominent Liverpool family and has relatives in both Spain and Merseyside. We also understand he has been subject to an extradition order following offences in the UK.

Sources have told the ECHO that the man is believed to be an associate of Sonny Redmond – the Bootle man who survived a car park assassination attempt in December.

Redmond, 32, was hit in the arm, leg and chest when his car was sprayed with bullets in an underground car park in Orihuela Costa. He managed to notify a neighbour about the shooting and was taken to hospital.

The ECHO understands the shooting of Redmond is linked to the murder of a British man who was found dead in a housing development in the Campoamor area of Alicante in Costa Blanca on December 21. The currently unnamed man’s body displayed several bullet wounds.

A spokesperson for the Spanish civil guard told the ECHO the victim was a 29-year-old man. Details about the investigation are scarce with a Spanish court ensuring there is a media blackout.

But the ECHO understands it is also common for Spanish authorities to not release information to the media while an investigation is ongoing.

The Vega Baja area of Alicante in Costa Blanca is believed to be a hotspot for Irish and British drugs gangs. The south of Spain is colloquially referred to as the “Costa del Crime” due to the high numbers of organised crime groups who use its shores as the centre of their operations.

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 burned-out car with two fire-damaged firearms inside was found a short while later.

And Merseyside man Michael Terrence Riley, 44 and of Huyton but formerly Bootle, has been extradited to Spain to stand trial accused of the murders of the Scottish gangsters gunned down in Fuengirola – Eddie Lyons Jnr and Ross Monaghan.

The National Crime Agency declined to comment when approached by the ECHO.