Elena Gocmen Rueda
THE family of a missing British man who came to Spain two decades ago believe he may have died in mysterious circumstances near Granada.
The sister of Michael Brittain fears a skeleton recently discovered in a ravine may be his.
Michelle Brittain thinks it ‘likely’ her brother, known as ‘Nod’ – and who was last seen living around nearby Orgiva seven years ago – is the dead man.
“It would explain how we haven’t heard from him for seven years when he was last seen at an encampment near Orgiva,” she told the Olive Press.
Police confirmed to the paper last month that the body found near the alternative settlement of Beneficio appeared to be that of a man in his 40s.
They had removed the skeleton from a ravine after it was found by a German hiker in late January.
A month earlier in December the Olive Press revealed how an expat living in Beneficio had found a skull while walking her dog nearby on November 18.
Her dog, Dragon, had unearthed the skull on a walk, while he has since dug up the jaw and other bones, she revealed this week.
It is not clear why the head and body were found some distance apart.
Now we can reveal that a pile of clothes and a series of dreadlocks have also turned up near the body.
“A purple sweater, some jeans and a pair of small shoes – without shoe laces – were found next to the skeleton,” said the Romanian expat, who lives in Beneficio.
They have also been taken by officers from the Guardia Civil for analysis.
According to his sister, Nod had dreadlocks, as well as small, size seven, feet.
He lived in the nearby encampment of Beneficio for some time around 2014/15.
He had first come to Spain from the UK two decades ago with the intention of relocating.
Bizarrely, he had brought ‘drilling gear’ to dig his own well on a plot he is understood to have acquired in the Alpujarras area.
The family, while hopeful that it is not Michael, believes the gruesome discovery would explain all these years of disconnection.
“We tried to find him 11 years ago when our mother was dying and found out through friends of friends that he was in Orgiva at an encampment,” explained his sister Michelle, administrative assistant from Warminster (Wiltshire).
“We didn’t get any further news and now my father is ill and having reached out again through a similar route I have been told he disappeared from Orgiva seven plus years ago and nobody has seen him since.
“I’m not saying this body is him but it could explain why nobody has seen him since.”
She added that most of his friends called him Nod, a nickname he has had from school and he was born in Harwich, Essex, in June 1966.
“He left school at 16 and never went to college or University. He always lived an alternative lifestyle even as a teenager”, Michelle added.
He is 5 foot 8 (1,72cm), of light to medium build. He had acne as a teenager which left him with pockmarked skin on his face and back.
A spokesman for the Guardia Civil told the Olive Press that the skull and skeleton had been sent to the Institute of Legal Medicine in Granada for analysis.
“We have suspicions about who it may be, but until we dont have the test results – which take a number of months – we can’t confirm anything.
“We must be cautious about the information we share until then”, he ended.
READ MORE:
- EXCLUSIVE: Body of a man discovered by hiker could match that of mystery head found last month in Spain’s…
- EXCLUSIVE: Skull found at alternative community near Orgiva, in Granada, is now being investigated in Sevilla
- Viable alternative: A look at the ‘hippy’ communities around Orgiva in Spain’s Alpujarras
