Murcia is a regional capital with a court structure of its own: its own Provincial Court and its own High Court of Justice, both in the city. We defend British and Irish clients before them in English, whether resident in the region or living abroad.
The region has a large British population, an agri-food economy that trades across borders, and a coastline of second homes. Each produces a different kind of criminal file, and all three end up in the capital.
In brief. English-speaking criminal defence in Murcia: arrest, bail, fraud, occupied property and appeals before the Provincial Court of Murcia, Spain.
Unlike the towns of the province of Alicante, Murcia has both its own Provincial Court (Audiencia Provincial de Murcia) and its own High Court of Justice for the Region of Murcia, and both sit in the capital. The investigation of offences committed in the district is conducted by the Court of First Instance (Tribunal de Instancia) created by Organic Law 1/2025, based at the city’s justice complex (Ciudad de la Justicia).
The route a case takes is therefore short and self-contained. Serious offences are tried by the Provincial Court, appeals are heard by the High Court of Justice of the Region of Murcia, and a final appeal lies to the Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo) where the grounds allow. Knowing the practice of those particular bodies is part of defending a case here rather than an afterthought.
The work that reaches us from the region divides fairly cleanly. There is business crime out of the agri-food and export economy, where a dispute over a consignment or a payment is reframed as fraud. There is a steady volume of online fraud affecting residents. And there is the criminal law of property ownership: occupied houses, disputes with tenants and complaints between neighbours.
Our nearest office is in Alicante, with a second in Madrid, and we travel to Murcia for hearings and trials. In the neighbouring province we act in Orihuela Costa and Torrevieja, and the provincial hub is our page on the English-speaking criminal lawyer in Alicante.
Each is defined in the Criminal Code and each takes a different route through the courts of the district. Several have no exact equivalent in English or Irish law, which is where most misunderstandings begin.
Fraud is deception sufficient to make another part with property to his own detriment, and it must precede the loss. A consignment ordered and never paid for, an invoice for a supply that never happened, or a payment diverted by a spoofed email are all charged here.
Where a person entrusted with the management of another’s property exceeds his powers and causes loss, the offence is breach of trust rather than fraud. It is the standard charge between business partners and against agents who have handled money that was not theirs.
Putting assets beyond the reach of creditors, before or during an insolvency, is an offence in its own right. Where a supplier or a grower fails, creditors frequently take the criminal route rather than wait for the insolvency to run its course.
Entering or remaining in another’s dwelling against his will is an offence under Article 202. Occupying a property that is not a dwelling, or one standing empty, falls under Article 245.2 and carries a fine. Owners of second homes in the region meet both, often at once.
Theft turns on a threshold of 400 euros: below it a minor offence (delito leve) punished by a fine, above it a full offence with a custodial range. Breaking into a farm building or an empty house makes it robbery with force against property.
Possession for personal use is not a criminal offence, and genuine shared consumption among users, in private and without profit, falls outside Article 368. Supply does not. These cases turn on the lawfulness of a vehicle or premises search, the authorisation behind it and the purity analysis.
Driving above 0.60 mg of alcohol per litre of exhaled air is a criminal offence and not an administrative fine. Article 384 covers driving after a ban, after the loss of all licence points, or having never held a licence, which catches residents who have never exchanged a foreign licence.
An injury requiring medical or surgical treatment beyond first aid falls under Article 147; without it, the matter is a minor offence. Article 148 raises the penalty where a weapon is used and Article 152 covers injury caused by recklessness. Neighbour disputes account for many of these files.
A Spanish company may be prosecuted in its own name for offences committed by its directors, or by employees under their authority where supervision was lacking. It becomes a party in its own right, appoints a designated representative and needs its own lawyer.
These are the statutory ranges. The sentence imposed depends on participation, whether the offence was completed, and the circumstances found in the individual case.
| Offence | Article | Statutory penalty | Usual route |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fraud | Art. 249 CP | 6 months to 3 years | Abridged proceedings |
| Aggravated fraud | Art. 250 CP | 1 to 6 years and a fine | Ordinary proceedings |
| Breach of trust | Art. 252 CP | 6 months to 3 years; 1 to 6 years aggravated | Ordinary proceedings |
| Asset stripping to defeat creditors | Art. 257 CP | 1 to 4 years and a fine of 12 to 24 months | Ordinary proceedings |
| Entering a dwelling against the occupier’s will | Art. 202.1 CP | 6 months to 2 years | Abridged proceedings |
| Occupation of a property that is not a dwelling | Art. 245.2 CP | A fine of 3 to 6 months | Minor-offence trial |
| Bodily harm requiring medical treatment | Art. 147.1 CP | 3 months to 3 years, or a fine of 6 to 12 months | Fast-track trial (juicio rápido) |
| Driving above 0.60 mg/l of alcohol in exhaled air | Art. 379.2 CP | 3 to 6 months, a fine of 6 to 12 months or 31 to 90 days of community work, plus a ban of 1 to 4 years | Fast-track trial |
Two provisions matter to anyone facing a first prosecution in Spain. A custodial sentence of up to two years imposed on a person with no previous convictions here may be suspended under Article 80, normally on conditions including payment of compensation. And under Article 89 a sentence of more than one year imposed on a foreign national not lawfully resident may be replaced by expulsion. Neither is automatic and neither can be promised in advance.
A person arrested must be released or brought before a judge as soon as the urgent enquiries are complete, and within seventy-two hours at the latest. In the Murcia district that ordinarily means the duty court at the justice complex, where bail and any conditions are decided at the same hearing as everything else.
Article 520 of the Criminal Procedure Act applies from the moment of detention. You must be told in writing, in a language you understand, what you are accused of and why. You have the right to silence, the right to have someone informed of your detention, the right to be examined by a doctor, and the right to appoint a lawyer of your own instead of the duty lawyer.
Remand in custody is exceptional and has to be justified by a specific risk: flight, interference with the evidence, or repetition. For someone whose home, family and work are outside Spain, the flight risk argument is the one that has to be answered with material rather than assurances. Our guide to bail and pre-trial detention in Spain explains how those decisions are made and challenged.
Article 520 gives you a private consultation with your lawyer before questioning. It is the one moment, before the file hardens, in which you can explain what happened without it being written down against you.
Interpretation, and translation of the essential documents, are free and are not a courtesy. If the interpretation is poor, that must be recorded at the time rather than raised later.
Ties to Spain, an address for service, a willingness to surrender a passport and to report periodically are what displace a remand application. They have to be evidenced at the first hearing, not promised.
You may ask for the British or Irish consular authorities to be told that you have been detained and where you are held, and you may communicate with them. Ask expressly; it is not automatic.
Every stage has its own competent body, its own deadline and its own opportunity for the defence. In this region the whole route, from investigation to final appeal, runs through the capital.
The Investigation Section sitting as duty court takes the urgent steps, hears your statement if you choose to give one, rules on bail and on any conditions, and decides whether the case suits the fast-track procedure (juicio rápido) or must be investigated in the ordinary way.
The court gathers the evidence: forensic reports, banking records, documents and expert analysis. The defence proposes its own lines of enquiry, contests the official expert evidence and holds the court to the statutory time limit on the investigation and any extension of it.
The prosecution files its accusation and the defence its pleading, with its own evidence and any preliminary objections. Trial follows before the Criminal Section, or before the Provincial Court of Murcia where the offence is serious enough, and every refusal of evidence is recorded for the appeal.
Appeal lies to the Provincial Court of Murcia, and from there to the Civil and Criminal Division of the High Court of Justice of the Region of Murcia and, where the law allows, to the Supreme Court. At enforcement we apply for suspension of a custodial sentence and for review of the compensation ordered.
A conviction outlasts the case: an entry on the criminal record certificate, a driving ban affecting your work, conditions attached to a suspended sentence. These are worth contesting properly rather than closing quickly.
Owners dealing with an occupied house, a tenant who will not leave, or an allegation made against them by an occupier or a neighbour. The criminal and civil routes are different and the wrong choice costs months.
Exporters, growers and suppliers whose commercial dispute has been reframed as a criminal complaint, and directors summoned personally over a decision they may not have taken alone.
Spanish procedure allows a victim to appear as a party, propose evidence, argue the classification of the offence and claim full compensation, rather than depending on the public prosecutor’s view of it.
What to do in the first hours of a criminal matter anywhere in Spain.
How the money laundering offence is charged in Spain and how it is defended.
What happens after an arrest in Spain and the rights you can exercise in custody.
The court will summon you to give a statement as a person under investigation. You may instruct a lawyer and, where the procedure requires one, a court representative (procurador), and you must give an address for service. Appearing to give a statement is normally required, and video link is possible where the court agrees. Ignoring the summons is what turns a manageable complaint into a warrant.
It can be, but which offence applies depends on the property. Entering or remaining in a dwelling against the occupier’s will falls under Article 202. Where the property is empty or not used as a dwelling, Article 245.2 applies and the penalty is a fine. The choice between the criminal route and civil recovery should be made at the outset, with evidence of the property’s status gathered first.
Only if the court finds a specific risk that nothing less will address: flight, interference with evidence, or repetition. Remand is meant to be exceptional. Where a defendant lives abroad the flight risk argument is the one that must be met, and it is met with material: an address for service, a surrendered passport, an undertaking to report. Our page on bail and pre-trial detention in Spain sets out the test.
Because a complaint has been made, and the criminal court decides for itself whether the conduct alleged is a crime or a contractual failure. The line lies in deception that came before the loss, and it is proved with documents rather than adjectives. Where the material shows an ordinary commercial default, the answer is dismissal at the intermediate stage rather than an argument first made at trial.
For most steps, yes. Written stages, applications and the routine progress of the file are handled by your lawyer. The exceptions are the steps that require you personally: your statement as a person under investigation and, ordinarily, the trial itself. We tell clients which dates genuinely require attendance well in advance.
All of your dealings with us, and the parts of the procedure where the law provides an interpreter. The proceedings themselves are conducted in Spanish and the file is in Spanish, so part of the defence work is making sure you understand precisely what has been said and written before you respond. Where a document matters it is translated properly.
If you have been arrested in Murcia, summoned by one of its courts, or told that a complaint has been made against you or your company, the conversation that helps is the one before a statement is given. We attend courts in the Murcia judicial district from our offices in Alicante and Madrid, and we act throughout Spain.
Société de Conseil Juridique et Expert es un despacho de abogados con sedes en Madrid, Alicante, Londres y París, especializado en defensa y acusación penal, delitos económicos y corporativos y derecho tecnológico. Trabajamos con orientación estratégica en procedimientos penales complejos, propiedad intelectual y análisis forense avanzado, y prestamos consultoría jurídica, compliance y escudos de protección a particulares y empresas. Atendemos desde Alicante y Madrid, con consulta online en toda España y asistencia al detenido 24 horas. Resuelva sus dudas en las preguntas frecuentes o solicite una primera consulta.
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