Suspected paedophile held in Spain

PALMA
A suspected paedophile on the run from the police has been arrested in a bar in Spain after Britons recognised him from a TV appeal.
Glen Tranter, 40, featured on the BBC Crimewatch show on Monday night.
He had fled the UK and was on the run in Spain, but he was spotted in a bar in Benalmadena by suspicious British ex-patriates who recognised his face from the TV.

Trevor Rowan, who confronted the suspected on-the-run paedophile, yesterday spoke of his shock after learning that a lodger at his home on the Costa del Sol has appeared on BBC programme Crimewatch accused of child abuse.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph from his bar in Benalmadena, Mr Rowan said he “couldn't believe it” when family and friends from County Antrim contacted him to say they had seen Tranter on television. “It was a shock. A real shock,” the former taxi driver explained.
WORK “He was living with me and my girlfriend, Belinda. “He used to come into the bar looking for taxi jobs and we got to know him and gave him work like taking people to Malaga airport and that.” Mr Rowan said he and his girlfriend Belinda McIntosh (51), originally from the Shankill area of Belfast, offered Tranter a room after taking pity on him. “He and his old landlord fell out and he came into the bar one night crying and so we offered him a place to stay,” said Mr Rowan. “My nephew and my father rang me and told me he was on Crimewatch. “As soon as I heard I went to the police in Gibraltar which is about an hour away from where we live and informed them that he was living in my apartment.” After the police were called and Tranter was arrested.
Tranter, whose last known address was Keighley Road, Colne, Lancashire, is wanted on eight charges of sexual offences against girls under the age of 16.

The offences date back to 1992 and are made up of sexual touching of a child through to indecent assault.
Tranter was bailed but failed to attend court and had not been seen since.
Detective Inspector Dave Groombridge from Lancashire Police said: “This development demonstrates how valuable programmes like Crimewatch can be to these types of investigations.” Tranter is currently detained in Malaga and will be transferred to Madrid for an extradition hearing.