Frances Leate
EXCLUSIVE by Frances Leate
URGENT questions are being asked why a dangerous sex offender who preyed on young girls was allowed to come to Spain and allegedly re-offend.
Spanish police have been searching for Robert Edward Bill, from Wales, since November 19, when a 12-year-old Spanish girl was bundled into a silver Peugeot in Velez Malaga.
Now his son has called for a change in the law to prevent dangerous sex offenders like his father coming abroad in the first place.
Stephen Bill, 26, from Preston, told the Olive Press: “I think it is ridiculous that European law allows him the right to build a new life in Spain around people who know nothing about him or his past.
“My father is a dangerous man and in north Wales everyone knows about his convictions.
“But over in Spain, expats had no idea. It just shouldn’t have happened.”
The girl, who has told of her terrifying ordeal on Spanish TV, was able to escape from the car seconds before the man sped off with her inside.
The incident mirrored Bill’s previous conviction in 2009, in which he was found guilty of the attempted abduction of a girl of five from a street in Holywell, north Wales.
He was also found guilty of indecently assaulting a seven-year-old girl and of possessing 730 pornographic images of children.
Police are still involved in a major manhunt for Bill, an ex-Jehovah’s Witness.
He moved to Spain on August 9, despite a UK judge describing him as having ‘an unhealthy sexual and predatory interest in young children’.
Incredibly, the Olive Press has discovered, he was able to settle in the Axarquia region, with no checks being made on him, after at first signing on with Malaga police.
He had soon found work at an estate agency, El Pino Properties, in Torrox Park and set up a new life on the Costa del Sol without any of his colleagues or new friends knowing a thing about his past.
He first moved to the small town of Periana before finding free accommodation in Competa, in return for looking after a friend’s dogs.
When Spanish investigators turned up at his local pubs, the El Pino Restaurant and Los Amigos bar in Torrox, where he played at the jam nights each week, people were horrified to learn that the man they had known simply as ‘Bob Bill’ was actually a dangerous convicted paedophile.
“No-one really knew much about him, there was something not right about him, he came across as untrustworthy and a lot of people thought that,” said Daniel Paul Ellis, bar manager at El Pino.
His boss Andrew Chaisty revealed meanwhile that the discovery has put huge stress on his family, employees and business.
He said: “I got his full name from police and through the internet I finally made the shocking discovery.
“Within two days, it was all over Torrox, and in the news.
“I have helped the police, with all enquiries, telling them of any emails or texts received. It is now only a matter of time before he is caught.”
A spokesman for North Wales Police said they were collaborating with investigators in Spain but that there had been no restrictions placed on Bill’s ability to travel once he left custody.
He said: “When he moved from the UK out to Spain we gave information to the Spanish police about his background, which we are not obliged to do, but we did.
“His only obligation was to register with the police in the country where he was living within three days, which as far as we know, he did.”
Spanish police today told the Olive Press they are still searching for Bill but could not comment any further on the investigation.
They refused to be drawn on local rumours that he had fled to Morocco.
A spokesman said: “We are desperate to find him. This is all we can say at this time.”
