Defence in English before the courts of the Elche judicial district, in a working city with its own courts, an industrial and agricultural economy and an airport inside its municipal boundary.
The words are familiar — arrest, custody, charge, trial — but the machinery behind them is Spanish, and the decisions that shape a case are taken far earlier than they would be at home.
In brief. English-speaking defence before the criminal courts of the Elche judicial district: arrest, custody, fast-track trials, driving and fraud cases.
Elche is the head of its own judicial district — a partido judicial — inside the province of Alicante. That single administrative fact decides a great deal. Papers are filed here, hearings are listed here, and a defendant who assumes that everything happens in Alicante city loses days that a criminal file rarely gives back. The volume of work reflects what the city actually is: a manufacturing and agricultural centre with a large logistics trade, and an airport that sits within the municipal boundary.
The mix of cases follows from that. Offences against property and against workers, fraud in contracting and in supply arrangements, arrests at roadside checks and around the airport, and a steady flow of fast-track trials — the juicio rápido — that can begin and end within days of an arrest. For a British or Irish resident, the speed is the most disorientating part. There is no long wait for a first appearance and no committal timetable to hide behind. A file that would take a year to reach the Crown Court can be tried here in a fortnight, and the evidence that decides it will already have been fixed on the night of the arrest.
Spanish criminal defence does not begin at trial. It begins at the first interview. What is said to the police, or to the investigating judge, before anyone has read the police report — the atestado — sets a version of events that must afterwards be maintained or retracted, and retraction always carries an evidential price. That is why the first hours matter more than the following weeks. It also explains why a duty lawyer appointed at the station, however competent, is working blind: he or she meets you minutes before the interview and has had no opportunity to look behind the allegation.
We act from our Alicante office and from Madrid, in English, and we attend across the Elche district. If you want the wider picture of how we work across the province, start with our page on the English-speaking criminal lawyer service in Alicante. Book a consultation→ Speak to a lawyer now
Nine recurring categories. The article numbers are those of the Spanish Criminal Code; the penalty brackets are the statutory ranges, not a prediction of what any particular case will attract.
A single blow that needs no medical treatment is dealt with as a delito leve. Once stitches, a plaster cast or a follow-up appointment appear in the medical report, the case moves up a band and the file is built around that report rather than around the witnesses.
These files are opened on the police report alone and are routed to a specialist court. Protective measures can be imposed within 72 hours, before any defence evidence has been heard, and they bind whether or not the complainant wants them. A withdrawal of the complaint does not close the file, because the prosecution is conducted in the public interest and not on the complainant’s instructions.
Above the statutory reading the offence is complete; below it, the prosecution must prove impaired driving. Refusing the roadside test is a separate and more serious offence than failing it, which is the point most British drivers get wrong.
Driving after a Spanish ban, or with a licence that has lost all its points, is a criminal offence rather than a regulatory one. British licence holders are frequently unaware that a ban imposed here bites on them personally, not on the document.
Arrests around the airport and at roadside checks are common. The distinction between possession for personal use, which is an administrative matter, and possession with a view to supply turns on quantity, packaging, cash and telephone traffic.
Value decides the band, and forced entry to a dwelling decides the rest. Where property is recovered or compensation is offered early, the mitigating circumstance of reparation is available and is worth far more when raised during the investigation than at trial.
Invoicing disputes, unpaid deliveries and deposits taken for goods that never arrived are routinely reported as fraud in a city built on manufacturing and distribution. The defence usually lies in showing a commercial failure rather than deceit at the outset.
Employers, site managers and directors face criminal liability where working conditions are imposed in breach of protected rights, or where safety measures are not provided and a serious risk results. A labour inspection can become a criminal file without any separate complaint. The company can be prosecuted alongside the individuals under the corporate liability provisions, which makes the choice of a single lawyer for both a problem rather than a saving.
Pushing away an officer, refusing to be identified or struggling during an arrest generates a second charge that often outlives the first. It is frequently the count that survives when the original allegation falls away.
Statutory brackets and the usual procedural route. Sentences within a bracket depend on the facts found, on previous convictions and on mitigation, and no lawyer can promise where a particular case will fall.
| Offence | Article | Statutory penalty | Usual route |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Assault causing no treatable injury | Art. 147.3 CP | Fine of 1 to 2 months | Minor-offence hearing |
| Domestic or gender-based violence | Art. 153.1 CP | 6 months to 1 year, or community work | Specialist court |
| Driving over the statutory alcohol limit | Art. 379.2 CP | 3 to 6 months, fine or community work, plus a ban | Fast-track trial |
| Refusing a breath or blood test | Art. 383 CP | 6 months to 1 year, plus a ban of 1 to 4 years | Fast-track trial |
| Burglary of a dwelling | Art. 241.1 CP | 2 to 5 years | Investigation then trial |
| Aggravated fraud | Art. 250.1 CP | 1 to 6 years, and a fine of 6 to 12 months | Investigation then trial |
| Failure to provide workplace safety measures | Art. 316 CP | 6 months to 3 years, and a fine | Investigation then trial |
Two points matter particularly to British and Irish defendants. A custodial sentence of up to two years imposed on someone with no previous convictions in Spain may be suspended under Article 80, usually on conditions. And an early plea — a conformidad entered before the investigating court under Article 801 — carries a reduction of one third, but it also closes the file for good, which is why it should never be accepted before the papers have been read in full.
Spanish law allows the police to hold you for up to 72 hours before you must be released or produced before a judge. In practice most Elche files move faster than that, because the fast-track procedure is designed to compress the investigation into the days immediately following the arrest.
During that window the police report is written, the breath readings or medical evidence are recorded, witnesses are taken, and a duty lawyer may be appointed if you have not instructed anyone. Everything gathered in those hours becomes the spine of the case. Very little of it is revisited later. A statement given at three in the morning, translated by a tired officer and signed without a proper reading, is very difficult to unpick eight months later in front of a judge who has the document in front of him.
If you have been detained, or expect to be, read our guide to arrest and police custody rights in Spain before you say anything at all.
Article 520 gives you a confidential consultation with your own lawyer before you are questioned. It is a right, it is not a courtesy, and it is the single most valuable thing available to you in the police station.
Your lawyer is entitled to see the material relied on for the arrest. Answering questions before that material has been read is how avoidable admissions are made.
You are entitled to interpretation into English throughout. A well-meaning officer with good English is not a substitute, and objections to the quality of interpretation must be raised at the time.
Silence carries no adverse inference in Spanish proceedings. Whether to give an account, and how much of one, is a tactical decision that depends on what the file already contains.
Four stages. The English labels are approximate; the Spanish names are given where there is no true equivalent.
Detention at a station, a Guardia Civil post or the airport facilities. The atestado is compiled here and sent to the court with you or ahead of you.
The case passes to an investigating court — a juzgado de instrucción — which decides whether there is a case to answer, orders enquiries, and rules on bail and protective measures. There is no separate prosecuting decision as there is in England. The investigating judge both directs the enquiry and decides on measures, a combination that has no English counterpart and that surprises most defendants.
If the file proceeds, formal accusations are drawn, a defence pleading is filed and the matter is listed for trial before a criminal court, or before the Audiencia Provincial of Alicante for the more serious offences.
Sentence follows the hearing, often within weeks. Appeal periods are short and strictly applied, and enforcement — suspension, driving bans, compensation — is a separate stage where a good deal can still be argued.
People employed in footwear, agriculture and distribution who find themselves investigated over an incident at work, a road check or a dispute that has been reported to the police.
Company officers facing allegations of fraud in supply arrangements, or a file opened after a labour inspection or a workplace accident, where personal criminal liability sits alongside the company’s.
Passengers detained on arrival or departure, often with a flight to catch and no understanding that leaving Spain while a file is open creates its own difficulties.
Relatives who have had a short telephone call and need to know, in plain English, where the person is, what the allegation is and what happens next.
What the 72-hour limit really means, what a duty lawyer can and cannot do for you, and the rights that must be read to you on arrest.
How Spanish law separates personal use from supply, and why quantity alone rarely decides a case at the airport or at a roadside check.
How defence work is quoted here, what a fast-track case usually involves, and where the costs actually fall across the stages.
Up to 72 hours before you must be released or brought before a judge. Most straightforward cases move faster, because the fast-track procedure is built to compress the investigation into the days immediately after arrest. From the moment of detention you are entitled to a private consultation with your own lawyer and to interpretation into English.
Not as a rule. Elche heads its own judicial district, so filings and hearings take place before its own courts. The more serious offences are tried before the Audiencia Provincial of Alicante, but the investigation stage stays where the case began. Turning up at the wrong building is a common and costly mistake.
Possession for personal use is an administrative penalty rather than a criminal offence. Possession with a view to supply is criminal, and the line between the two is drawn from quantity, packaging, cash, messages and the circumstances of the stop rather than from any single figure. Our drug offence guide explains how that assessment is made.
Yes. Where safety measures were not provided and a serious risk to life or health followed, criminal liability under Articles 316 and 317 can attach to the individuals responsible as well as to the company. A labour inspection report can be the starting point of a criminal file without any separate complaint being made.
Only after the file has been read. An early plea before the investigating court carries a one-third reduction, which is a real advantage in the right case. It is also final, it produces a criminal record in Spain, and it can affect a licence, a residence application or travel. The reduction is not a reason to plead to something that cannot be proved.
Usually not, if no remand or restriction has been imposed. You will need an address for service and, in most cases, a power of attorney so that your lawyer can appear on your behalf. What you must not do is leave without arranging that, because a missed hearing can turn a manageable file into a warrant. We deal with a great many files for clients who are in the United Kingdom or Ireland throughout, and attendance in person is often needed only for the trial itself.
If you have been arrested, called in for interview or told that a complaint has been made against you in the Elche district, the useful conversation is the one that happens before you give an account.
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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