An office in the town itself, and defence in English before the courts of the Alicante judicial district, where cases that begin in El Campello are heard.
A large part of the town lives here only part of the year. That single fact shapes the files: empty houses, seasonal nights out, and money moved by email between people who never meet.
In brief. English-speaking defence in El Campello, heard in the Alicante district: illegal occupation, online fraud, theft, roadside checks and assaults.
El Campello is one of the towns where this firm keeps its own office, alongside Alicante and Madrid. Someone ringing from here is not put through to a switchboard and does not wait for a lawyer to travel across the province. Criminal proceedings that begin in El Campello are, however, dealt with by the judicial bodies of the Alicante district, so the hearing and the police station are usually not in the same place.
The profile of the town explains the work. A large foreign resident population, a great many second homes and a season that fills the place for a few months a year produce a recognisable pattern: roadside checks on the coast road and the approaches to it, thefts from houses and from the beach, houses occupied while their owners are abroad, online fraud aimed at residents, and altercations that begin as an argument on a night out. None of it is unusual for a coastal town of this size, and none of it is unmanageable, but almost all of it is made worse by a delay of a few weeks.
A criminal file here is very often opened while the person concerned is in another country. Post arrives at an address nobody is visiting, a summons expires, and the first the owner hears of it is when something has already been decided. Article 118 gives the right to defend yourself from the moment you are named as a suspect, and that right is worth very little if nobody is reading the letters.
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The articles are those of the Spanish Criminal Code and the brackets are the statutory ranges. They set the limits within which a court works; they do not predict a result.
Checks on the N-332 and the approaches to the coast are frequent at weekends. Above the statutory reading no evidence of bad driving is needed, and refusing the test is a separate offence carrying more than failing it does.
Driving while disqualified, or after a licence has lost all its points, is criminal rather than administrative. Residents who have never held a Spanish licence are often surprised to find the prohibition attaches to them personally.
Bags taken from the sand and property taken from parked cars are among the commonest reports of the summer. Value sets the band, and where the owner is identified early the case is often resolved through compensation rather than a trial.
Entry to a house by force moves the matter into a much heavier bracket than an ordinary theft, whether or not the house was occupied at the time. Alarm records, damage to fittings and the timing of the entry usually decide these files.
A house that stands empty for most of the year is the classic target. Taking possession of a dwelling that is not your home, without violence, is an offence, and the owner can join the proceedings rather than rely on a civil claim alone.
Payments diverted by email during a property purchase, investments that never existed and pressure applied to older residents over the telephone. The money usually leaves quickly, and the first hours after the transfer matter more than anything that follows. Where the payment can be traced quickly, the criminal file and the recovery effort have to run together rather than one after the other.
Where a fraud has involved getting into an email account, reading correspondence or using personal data without consent, a second and separate offence arises alongside the fraud itself.
What starts as a disagreement outside a bar becomes either a delito leve or a full injuries file, and the dividing line is the medical report rather than anybody’s account of who started it.
These reach the court through the police, not through a lawyer, and the first statement shapes everything afterwards. Protective measures can be in force within days and do not depend on the complainant continuing to want them.
Statutory brackets and the ordinary route. Where a case falls within a bracket depends on the facts proved, on any record and on mitigation, and nobody can guarantee an outcome.
| Offence | Article | Statutory penalty | Usual route |
|---|---|---|---|
| Driving over the statutory alcohol limit | Art. 379.2 CP | 3 to 6 months, fine or community work, plus a ban | Fast-track trial |
| Driving after disqualification | Art. 384 CP | 3 to 6 months, fine or community work | Fast-track trial |
| Theft above the statutory threshold | Art. 234.1 CP | 6 to 18 months | Fast-track trial |
| Burglary of a dwelling | Art. 241.1 CP | 2 to 5 years | Investigation then trial |
| Occupying a dwelling that is not your home | Art. 245.2 CP | Fine of 3 to 6 months | Minor investigation then trial |
| Fraud | Art. 249 CP | 6 months to 3 years | Investigation then trial |
| Unauthorised access to messages or data | Art. 197.1 CP | 1 to 4 years, and a fine | Investigation then trial |
| Habitual domestic violence | Art. 173.2 CP | 6 months to 3 years | Specialist court |
Two things are worth knowing before any decision is taken. A sentence of up to two years imposed on a person with no previous convictions in Spain may be suspended under Article 80, generally on conditions. And repairing the damage before trial is an express mitigating circumstance, which in property and fraud files is often the most useful step available to a defendant.
If you are arrested you may be held for up to 72 hours before release or production before a judge. If you are not arrested but are named in a complaint, the clock still runs: enquiries are made, statements are taken and the file takes shape without you. Nothing about that process waits for you to notice it, and the material gathered in those first days is what the court will still be reading a year later.
Owners who spend part of the year abroad are the group most often caught out. A summons served on an empty house is still validly served. By the time it is discovered, the investigation may have closed and the only remaining arguments are procedural ones.
Where the arrest has already happened, our guide to arrest and police custody rights explains exactly what may and may not be done in the station.
Article 520 entitles a person in custody to speak privately with a lawyer of their choice before being questioned, and to have that lawyer present throughout.
A nominated address for service, and a power of attorney, keep a case from being decided in your absence while you are out of the country.
Interpretation is a right at every stage, not a favour. If it is inadequate, the objection has to go on the record at the time it happens.
Photographs, bank records, alarm logs, messages and travel documents lose value as time passes. In fraud and occupation cases they are usually the entire defence.
Four stages, with the Spanish terms given where English procedure has no real equivalent.
A complaint at the station, a call to a property or a stop on the road. The police compile the atestado and send it on with the person concerned or without them.
The file goes to an investigating court — a juzgado de instrucción — of the Alicante district, which decides whether there is a case to answer, orders enquiries and rules on measures. Both defence and injured party may request specific steps at this stage, and this is where a case is usually won or lost.
Written accusations are formulated, the defence answers them, and the matter is listed before a criminal court, or before the Audiencia Provincial of Alicante for the heaviest charges.
Sentence, appeal within short and strict time limits, and then enforcement: suspension, driving bans, compensation and the removal of any measures still in force. Compensation ordered in a criminal judgment is enforceable in the same proceedings, which is one reason an injured party is usually better off inside the criminal case than outside it.
People who discover, sometimes from a neighbour, that their house is occupied or has been entered, and who need to know what is criminal and what is not. Very often the answer is both, and the order in which the two are pursued makes a considerable practical difference.
Buyers whose deposit went to the wrong account and older residents pressed for money by telephone or email, who want the matter investigated rather than filed away.
People facing a first file after a night out or a roadside stop, for whom the real question is what a conviction here will mean for work and for residence.
Households where the police have already attended, where measures are in force and where nobody has explained what the next appointment is for.
What is criminal and what is not, how an owner joins the proceedings, and why the first days after the discovery matter so much.
How the medical report decides the band, what a minor-offence hearing involves, and where compensation changes the outcome.
What to do in the first hours, out of hours attendance at the police station, and how instructions are taken from abroad.
Because proceedings that begin here are dealt with by the judicial bodies of the Alicante district. The police station, the incident and the court are simply not in the same place, and the summons will name the court rather than the town. It makes no difference to the substance of the case, but it does decide where papers are filed and where you must appear.
It can be. Occupying a dwelling that is not your home, without violence, falls under Article 245, and where entry involved force or intimidation the position is more serious still. As the owner you may take an active part in the proceedings rather than leaving it to the prosecutor. What the case needs from the outset is proof of title, of the state of the property and of the date the occupation began. Our guide to illegal occupation in Spain sets out the steps in order.
That is treated as fraud, and speed is everything. Bank records, the email chain and the header information of the messages need preserving immediately, because the funds are usually moved on within days. Where an email account was accessed, a further offence arises alongside the fraud itself.
A complaint can be made and the injured party may join the proceedings. Age and vulnerability are relevant both to how the offence is classified and to the measures the court may take. Keeping the recordings, statements and transfer records intact matters far more than the exact words used on the call.
It depends almost entirely on the medical report. A blow that requires no treatment is dealt with as a delito leve at a short hearing; an injury needing stitches or a follow-up moves into a different bracket. Offering compensation early is a recognised mitigating circumstance and is often more useful than disputing who was at fault.
In most instances, yes, provided a power of attorney is in place and an address for service is nominated. Attendance in person is generally needed only for trial, and sometimes not even then in minor matters. What must be avoided is leaving with an open file and no arrangements, because a missed hearing quickly becomes a warrant.
Whether you are here all year or arriving to a problem that started while you were away, the first conversation should happen before anything is signed or said.
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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