James Warren
A SPANISH man has been arrested in Catalonia after fleeing a French police checkpoint with the mummified corpse of his partner hidden in the passenger seat.
The man, revealed as a 66-year-old Galician man with Swiss citizenship, was detained after a brief police chase in the small town of Jafre, 30 kilometres from the French border.
According to the police report, the driver had allegedly crossed the Spain / France border on Thursday but reached a police checkpoint 20 kilometres into his journey near the town of Le Voulou.
Officers noticed he turned around quickly on noticing the road block and made a break back to Spain, with French police informing the Mossos d’Esquadra of his details.
The driver was picked up circulating on the AP-7 around 30 kilometres from the border and was pursued by patrol cars for nearly half an hour before exiting the motorway towards Empordà of Girona.
The driver eventually lost control of his vehicle and crashed, allowing officers to apprehend the man and make the grim discovery.
As the driver was removed from the car, a blanket was draped over the passenger seat, covering the decaying body of what appeared to be an elderly woman.
Upon investigation it was revealed that the deceased was the Swiss, 88-year-old partner of the man who had passed away two to three weeks ago.
Parking tickets and documents in the car showed that the man had been travelling for some time, with evidence that he had visited Madrid, Vilafranca del Penedès and even a brief stint in Italy.
The body showed onset signs of decomposition and even had mummified hands and feet, however initial police reports show there was no signs of violence.
The body has been transferred to the Girona Institute of Legal Medicine for autopsy and the man has been arrested and put to trial at the La Bisbal d’Empordà court where he is currently only charged with reckless driving at the moment depending on the results of the autopsy.
It is believed the man was taking his partner back to Switzerland for burial.
READ ALSO:
- ‘Mummified’ corpse found by squatters near Spain’s Costa del Sol to be tested for COVID-19
- Son stabs his own mother to death in Malaga, father finds corpse
