I really wish I had some good news this week to share with you; news that Felipe Turover, our unwelcome squatter has left. But no, he remains entrenched in his room. Our horror story continued but Wednesday took the biscuit when it comes to the events of the past few weeks. The plot really thickened that day. Thursday was the climax when he broke into our house and committed vandalism. but got away unscathed. Read on to find out what happened.
Last Sunday he emerged from his room after being entrenched since Friday. We were happy to see him go. He came back later and we were once again faced with the nightmare of living with him. He is destroying our lives. Actually it wasn't as easy as that. We thought he had lost his keys after his "suicide attempt" when he returned from hospital. Thus he has asked us to open the gate for him each time having told us he has keys but thinks he shouldn't use them. Strange! We had missed calls from him during our siesta time which we didn't hear at around 3 pm. Then at dinner at 8 we surmised he was still out. That's when I knocked on his door and I found him lying on his bed in a silk dressing gown with a smug look on his face. I asked him how he got in and he said with "his keys". Oh, so he has keys. We wondered. Was this another game with us? Probably.
Sunday was quiet but I couldn't get him off my mind. We did go for a walk that day, our only trip outdoors and my only walk this week. We even dared to go together for the first time in weeks. It was my first walk since the media campaign began and I really needed it. My knee hurt of course but I tried to ignore it. Thanks to our squatter I had to cancel the operation to mend the meniscus on 13th January. When all this is over I shall have to reschedule a date for the operation.
We ate leftovers. I just have no urge to cook these days and am happy to eat whatever there is in the fridge. Poor Eladio opens sardine tins when he only gets a vegan style menu of vegetable soup and lentils. I don't really care much about food. How could I with Felipe Turover (FT) on my mind the whole time.?As he left late that morning Eladio asked him once again when he was leaving. He replied the next day or on Tuesday. Of course we didn't believe him.
Sunday seemed a long day and we spent it alone with no social engagements. We don't seem to have any these days and that is sad. We can't go away either, for fear he will take over the whole house. If he does that Spanish law will once again be on his side and we would not be allowed to live in our own house. Can you imagine that? Baffling isn't it? At times the situation makes me angry, at others it makes me frustrated. We are totally impotent in this nightmare we are living. All my energy is devoted to our nightmare which has totally disrupted our lives. We hardly go on walks, hardly go out for coffee or for meals and haven't traveled anywhere since November.
Monday dawned and I was up early. My first thoughts, as usual, were about FT, smugly enjoying the comfort of one of the best en suite rooms in the house, knowing that the law is on his side. Damn the man. But one day he will be evicted and he knows that. Meanwhile to quote Sir Winston Churchill again: "keep calm and carry on". We are trying to do that.
That morning Oli had scheduled the visit of another TV programme from TVE1 the national broadcaster she works for. Maria was coming from the late morning programme called "Mejor contigo". As Lucy was at home we decided to go on a walk before Maria arrived. Meanwhile we decided to find out once and for all whether our unwelcome guest really had keys. We had begun to suspect that on Sunday when he returned he may have climbed the gate and got into the house through the garage while we were sleeping. Thus we locked the garage too. Our trick did not work as when I was out later that day, Eladio opened it for him. As he walked up the drive with Lucy he shoved a 5 euro note into her pocket and she threw it in his face to make sure he felt unwelcome. We would have to try again.
Maria and her cameraman were waiting for us when we came back. Maria and Oli both did their TVE master in journalism together so we gave her a warm welcome. Here she is on camera before we were invited to talk.
Unfortunately, our squatter and ex KGB spy, Felipe Turover, was out but Maria could see for herself our plight. Nearly all the cameras do their reports outside our room and his which is just next door. It's like living with the enemy. As you know we have had to put a lock on our door.
I think my husband must have been thinking about the next step in evicting our squatter when he decided to sit down and write a letter to the judge who had denied us the precautionary measure of evicting him before trial back in November. Her words when doing so were along these lines: "too extreme a measure for his freedom". But what about ours? So this is the letter he wrote which is badly translated by Google I'm afraid.
To Her Honour, Judge Inmaculada González Cervera
In the first place we would like to pay our
respects to your honor and to the institution you represent.
Your honour, Doña Inmaculada, the day you denied the precautionary
measure to evict Felipe Turover before trial (document enclosed) on 21st November last, you
returned home to peace and quiet and did not have the misfortune to find a
former KGB agent occupying a bedroom right next to yours. We have had to endure
a character like this for months now next to ours.
Felipe Turover makes life impossible for us. At
home there is an atmosphere of constant intimidation.
That day we returned home with
our hearts destroyed. Perhaps we did not know how to express ourselves
adequately in our statements. The injunction would have saved us, but …….
justice in this country goes slowly and thus our family intimacy was destroyed.
You can't imagine what this is like, living day by day with this character who
defiantly accesses all the rooms in the house, the kitchen, the fridge... In a
way we are at his mercy. This is hell. María has constant nervous attacks and is
undergoing psychological treatment. I myself confess that I have been tempted
to do something crazy. We are very afraid, afraid that our health will
deteriorate, because the worst thing is the emotional trauma, the feeling of
helplessness, not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We are afraid
because a person like this, with his
background, could do anything to us. Before coming to our house, he entered
another house, also through the same holiday platform, and police
investigations were necessary until he was evicted.
The other day we heard very loud bangs in his room
and we could verify damage, especially in the bathroom, broken tiles on the
wall, torn off sockets, the toilet bowl filthy, rubbish and bottles of alcohol
on the floor. This is typical behaviour of squatters. There were also many
empty bottles of alcohol and medicine
blisters on the floor. The local police intervened. He later confessed
that he had attempted suicide.
Dona Inmaculada, we can't take it much longer. We
need the court to give us a solution now. He says that he has the upper hand
and that he will not leave here until a judge orders it. We are people of the law,
even if it is this law. But until when? Clogged courts, staff shortage. We
understand. But please do something, reconsider the injunction, we are not
asking for more.
We plea with you to do all you can to ease our pain and
you can do a lot.
Thank you very much for your time and your
attention.
We debated about sending it by post or taking it personally but we didn't have high hopes the judge would ever read it. Oli sent it to our lawyer who for once supported us and by the end of the day we had planned going to court the next morning to give it in and also to try and speed things up.
Monday afternoon was spent on non related FT matters and I got a breather or at least a change of atmosphere when I went to pick up Elliot from school. Miguel was working this week and on Monday was sent to Benidorm until today to film a ghastly festival taking place to choose Spain's entrant to the Eurovision Contest. That meant that Oli needed a lot of help this week and we were there to give it to her. She deserves it too as she is being such a sport helping us through this nightmare. Spiffing maybe an old fashioned word but that's how I would describe her.
I spent some quality time with Oli and my grandchildren. My daughter had made some delicious food, vegetable fritters and cauliflower curry which she gave me for our dinner. That meant I didn't have to cook that night.
Tuesday was the day we went to court in the working class suburb of Móstoles, a depressing little town, to see what was happening to our cases; one through the penal process and one through the civil process. We didn't know it but we would have to go twice more this week. We were met there by Jorge, our "procurador" (a lawyer who liaises with the court). Just like the town our morning was depressing and frustrating. If you have ever read the first few chapters of Kafka's Process you will know what the courts were like. Dreadful. Jorge explained we had to see 3 different courts or departments to plead our case. The first was the Civil court's offices. My what we saw there made my heart drop. I got Oli to take a photo to record the embarrassing photo that sums up Spain's sluggish justice system.
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| This picture says it all |
There were just 3 desperate clerks to deal with all that paperwork strewed on the floor. We had to talk to them from the doorway at quite a distance. They complained there were not enough clerks. Of course there aren't. When we told them about our case which was lying at the bottom of one of these piles of files, they retrieved ours. If we hadn't gone along and if our case had not become high profile because of the PR campaign, the clerks would probably have sent us on our way. If we had not gone that day, no doubt the hearing would probably never see the light of day for at least this year!!!!! Our case had not even been assigned to a clerk yet. Luckily one of the women took a bit of pity on us and looking through the file to make sure the paperwork was correct, she gave us a date for the hearing: 17th February next. That sounded good but it had a caveat. Eviction would not take place until 4th April. I don't know if we can wait that long. Furthermore these are only tentative dates as FT could try to torpedo everything and then the case could carry on for ages. At least we had a date though. That's what we are hanging on to now.
I went out feeling depressed and wondering if it wasn't better after all to bribe our squatter to go. But that is a dangerous road to go down as his leaving has to be legalised and what if he comes back? He could if the case isn't resolved soon.
Our next visit was to the offices of the penal court number 2 where they held our file which had been dropped. We wanted it opened again so as to submit my medical report to get an injunction for FT to leave before a hearing. We asked to speak to the judge and to give in our letter even though it was addressed to the judge of Court 3. That's where we were met by a clerk spitting out strict procedure protocols in order to do so. We didn't get far with her. Our last visit was to Court number 3 which is the on duty court for urgent reports and where we first made our report back on 19th November. This is presided over by said Judge Inmaculada González Cervera. The clerk in charge of our case was out having a coffee and would be back in half an hour! We waited only to be told that the judge was on leave. It seems no one can do her work while she is away. That meant we could not deliver the letter. We also found out we could not leave it to her either as it had to be sent via our lawyer following court protocol!!! Imagine our frustration.
At about 2 pm I came away thinking Spanish justice was on a par with countries like Bangladesh (with due respect to Bangladesh), except for the foul smells or cows. Those piles of paperwork were proof of that. As a friend said later; "public service at its worst". This is our first experience with the judicial system in Spain in all my 40 years here. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. As I have said in recent weeks, I have lost all faith in Spanish institutions since our nightmare began.
Olivia tired to cheer us up by saying we would be rid of him by Easter. I just sat feeling glum in the back of the car as she drove us home. We had of course achieved something, dates for the hearing and eviction which without our visit on Tuesday we would not have got. I wondered why we had to go in person to plead our case a job our lawyer should have done for us.
We came home to lunch and I ate because I was hungry not because I was interested in what was on my plate. I had a quick respite before leaving the house again to pick up Elliot from play school and once again spent the afternoon with Oli and our grandchildren.
That day our unwanted squatter did not leave his room.
Wednesday came and Oli and I were going to the courts again to try to talk to the senior clerk in Court number 1 to get the eviction date to take place earlier than 4th April. and also to confirm the date of the hearing. We wondered if he would even receive us but we had to try. I hate going to Móstoles and the depressing and soulless courts. In the end we didn't go as our lawyer said to wait till Thursday in case the clerk rang as she had promised to do (she didn't). Thus we were at a loose end or so we thought. How wrong we were. We had no idea what Wednesday would turn out to be like.
That day the plot thickened. It started off with me googling FT again, but in Russian (Филипп Туровер). This time I searched in images. I couldn't believe what I came up with. He is on a list of the Russian mafia!!!!! So he isn't just a KGB spy but also a member of the Mafia. OMG.
This is the page I found.
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| FT on this list of Russian Mafia!!! (he is on the left with his head looking up We know it's him as this was one of the photos he had sent to the journalist from El País. |
I had first googled his name in Russian to find out if news of his squatting here had reached his birth country and by God it had. This means if he returns there, his doings in Spain will also be available to anyone in Russia who looks him up. I found two items in news in Russia about him. These are the links. This is all part of the media coverage of our PR campaign to give voice to our story both in Spain and abroad.
https://russpain.com/news/historia/el-pais-ispaniya-byvshij-shpion-kgb-v-sosednej-komnate/
https://ura.news/news/1052527147
That got me thinking that maybe I should generate more news coverage in Russia. How though? I had the answer when I remembered the correspondent, Esther, for the Russian news agency Sputnik News who had interviewed me a while back about hiring our pool on the Swimmy Platform. She was very interested and so was I as her article would be shared both in Spain and in Russia. But she had to get the go ahead from her editor and "Russian bosses" so maybe I won't hear from her again. I then got the contact for the infamous Russian news portal, Russia Today but the chap didn't get back.
In the car leaving our house, Oli and I could talk of nothing else; FT now a member of the mafia and news of his squatting reaching Russia. Wow! With not much to do we went shopping to Carrefour for a few items and then some errands. At around 11.30 we decided on a cup of coffee at our favourite place, Alverán. We sat inside by the window which looks out on the cafe terrace and the street. While sipping my coffee I nearly choked as I could see FT walking on the zebra crossing on his way to the same cafeteria we were in!!! I got nervous and worried and both Oli and I urged the waiter not to let him inside. But we couldn't stop him. He had obviously walked all the way from our house to the cafe which takes 35 minutes. It was awful to coincide with him. Oli took a photo of him choosing his pastry and ordering his coffee while I could see 3 packets of cigarettes on the table he had chosen outside.
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| FT in our cafe with me looking on |
We told the whole cafe he was the man squatting in our house. He walked outside with his breakfast - so he is not penniless - looking unabashed.
He was enjoying his breakfast when suddenly a man appeared by his side. We presumed it was a friend so out we went to confront him. We asked the man if he was Felipe's friend to which he answered he was. We then asked him if he knew he was a squatter at our house at which he shrugged his shoulders. It was then I realised two more men were looking on and I took a photo of the whole scene while the latter protested. I asked them if they were also Felipe's friends. They ignored me.
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| FT on Wednesday at the cafe with 3 men |
They shooed us inside and one of them showed me his police ID - OMG, they were secret or undercover police and they were obviously investigating him. That was when the plot really thickened. We watched breathless and taking pictures even though we had been told not to do so. From the cafe they escorted him to their non police marked car where they probably were getting his ID, etc. We had hoped they would put him in it and take him to a police station but it was not to be. Before they left they came into the cafe to tell us they were investigating him but would say no more. My God, what a coincidence. I wondered how they had found him at the cafe. Had they been following him from our house or had they been tracking his phone? We do know as I'm not sure I have written before that someone very high up in Spanish justice, an anti corruption prosecutor, told us he had been searching for our squatter for 10 years so maybe that was why the secret police were there that day. If only it had been to evict him.
We came home to tell the story to Eladio. It felt like being in the middle of a Netflix drama I can tell you. The drama increased in the afternoon with events leaving me trembling. We had been trying to fathom whether FT had really lost his keys the day he came back from hospital. He kept saying he has or had his set and we had told him the day before that we would no longer open and close the gate and doors for him. Well that Wednesday if he had a key he would have opened the gate and if not he would have had to climb over it - no mean feat. .At about 4.30 another TV camera crew arrived (Europa Press TV) from a Spanish news agency. As we were telling them the whole story, FT returned. He came to the French windows of the lounge trying to get in. That means he does not have a key to the main door of the house. We decided not to open any of the doors to him as he supposedly has keys. Eladio was out getting Elliot from school and we told him not to come back until the whole episode was over. With FT outside waiting for us to open, the reporter interviewed me. He then wanted to interview FT of course as this was his chance. We opened the kitchen door for him and the cameraman and shut it quickly again. We agreed that later Oli would go through the study door and down the garden to the main gate to open it for them when they had finished. We suspected that meanwhile he would call the police. He did. I went up to bed as I couldn't face them and Oli went out instead. She had left the pedestrian street gate unlocked so when FT protested we wouldn't let him in to the police, Oli replied but the gate is open isn't it so you (FT) must have opened it? He didn't deny that. His excuse for not being able to get into the house was that there was a key in the lock of the front door on the inside (there wasn't). In front of the police Oli challenged him and asked him to try to open the door with his key. Instead he rang the bell. She insisted and he then said his key was upstairs. Oli remarked to the police that this was another lie of his and it was. We now know he has to climb the gate to get in and out. We do not know why he pretended or pretends to have his keys. Who knows what is going on inside his head?
Can you imagine living the above situation? It felt like being besieged in our own home. I had no idea it would get worse and come to a head the next evening.
When this was all over we were able to talk to the TV reporter to ask him what FT had said on camera. He had told yet another lie as to why he wasn't paying us. In previous declarations to TV cameras he had said it was because of a financial "lagoon". This time he came up with a blatant lie. He said it was because his camera worth 11.000 euros had gone missing from his room and that relations had tensed since then and that's why he wasn't paying us. We laughed out loud as I have him on tape saying it went missing 5 or 6 months ago and he must have left it somewhere. So out went Olivia to tell our side of the story in front of the camera. I also sent the tape to the reporter. I was a bit cross when they later didn't include our side of the story.
Only when all this was over were we able to relax. We told Eladio he could come back with little Elliot and we had some quality family time for an hour or so to unwind. What a day.
We had found out he was on a Russian mafia list, we saw him being investigated by Spanish police and we had been besieged in our own house. But there was still more to come. That night, thanks to our investigative work we found out what he is supposedly prescribed on the Spanish national health system. It blew my mind. Just look at the cocktail of medicines he takes, including viagra which is neither here nor there really.
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| Just look at the medicines he takes. He must be a junkie. |
He must have access to a doctor friend as no doctor in their right mind would give him this amount of potent sleeping tablets, pain killers, tranquilisers and anti depression pills. He has enough to kill himself over and over again. Finding the list of medicines he takes was the cherry on the cake of our findings that day. Now you see why Wednesday took the biscuit. Well, not quite as Thursday was the climax.
I wondered how Thursday would pan out. It started off well but finished in a nightmare. Oli and I went back to the courts to try and persuade the clerks to confirm the dates for the hearing and eviction. We were lucky in a way. The preliminary date for the hearing is 17th February and 4th April for the eviction. But he could obstruct the process in many ways so no dates are set in stone I am afraid. We spent most of the morning there with only a quick respite for a cup of coffee together which we spent most of talking to our lawyer.
While we were out, FT asked my husband to open the gate. Eladio told him to use his keys. After all he had told the police the day before he did have keys. Later Lucy saw him climbing the gate into the street and shortly afterwards when Eladio took Pippa for a walk he was standing outside smoking and a taxi arriving for him. So he can pay for taxis alright.
So he was out. Good. Meanwhile a workman came to repair the wall he had destroyed in the bathroom. He could not do a very good job though as we had no replacement tiles. Basically he just the pasted the broken tiles together.
Oli had asked us to spend the afternoon with her and the kids. We were happy to lend a hand. We stayed with Juliet when our daughter went to pick up Elliot. It was at about that time that Europa Press TV (Spanish news agency) released the story they had put together on the wires. We had thought it was going out at the weekend. Suddenly the news was everywhere on the internet on Spanish news portals and online sites of some top newspapers. It was good to see the story being picked up again. The main headline was that we had seen on a Russian website that he also belongs to the mafia apparently. This is just one example. It came out in Spain's well known right wing paper ABC.
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| My video is everywhere now thanks to the news agency Europa Press |
I could see it was everywhere. This was not revenge. This was part of an orchestrated PR campaign to get our case heard and to spotlight the injustice of Spain's squatter laws. My main message is that it is unfathomable that the law gives more protection to criminals than it does to law abiding citizens like us. Thanks to it we got a much earlier date for our hearing than we would have without it.
After that we tried not to spent too much time talking about "him" or worrying about him being on our property outside the house. So we took the kids to a nearby park and spent some quality time together. Elliot particularly loves the slides.
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| Elliot enjoying the slide in the park on Thursday |
We had left the house empty as Lucy had gone to Madrid as she was to get her booster jab at a health clinic in the centre and wouldn't be back until the next day. At around 6 pm while at the park, we got calls from Felipe. He had obviously arrived and wanted to get in the house but couldn't. So where are his keys we thought? We left him to it and did not pick up his calls as our lawyer has told us not to have any communication at all with him. Worried about getting into trouble for not letting him in, our lawyer told us there was no law that said we have to give him a set of keys if he has lost his. She also told us that we had no obligation to be at home to act as his porter. Knowing this we left him to it. Once back in Oli's flat playing with Elliot and looking after Juliet, we received a threatening message from him which our lawyer said could be coercion and which we should report to the police the next day. We debated going home or to stay for dinner at our daughter's house as planned. We all agreed that we should be allowed our freedom. It was then the Guardia Civil rang. I didn't hear the call but called them back as soon as I saw I had a missed call from them. They said that "Felipe, that man" had called them again. They asked if we were at home which we said we weren't. They said that was fine. So obviously they could not oblige us to go home and open the door into the house for him. But we were worried and so we should have been but on the other hand we thought we had the right to some sort of normality in our lives as we have hardly gone out to enjoy ourselves since our ordeal began.
At around 10 pm when we had finished dinner and were getting the kids ready for bed, a neighbour called to say there were very loud noises coming from our house as if someone was trying to break in and she could hear shattered glass!!!! Oh my God what had he done? Oli rang the Guardia Civil and we drove home. We asked our neighbour Julio to accompany us but we waited for the police to arrive before we went in. What had he done? We walked into our property with trepidation. He was waiting for us. Oh my God I want to see him go. Eladio said we had unleashed the beast in him by not returning home to open the door for him. But for God's sake, don't we have the right to go out whether he is in the house or not?
There were two policemen. One took Felipe aside and the other came with us to inspect the damage. We soon found the most obvious damage which was a broken window belonging to my father's bedroom. He had obviously tried to break in and get inside. Omg. What can I say? Imagine how we were feeling at that moment. Shocked doesn't begin to describe it.
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| He broke the glass of my father's bedroom window where he had tried to get in |
He had also destroyed the key hole of the pedestrian gate into the property. But unbelievably we were forced to admit Felipe back into the house and allow him to go to his room!!!! He should have been arrested. We could have filed a report that night but it was late and in any case the police had to come back the next morning to take photos. Would they be enough with all the other evidence we have to get him evicted through injunction? We sincerely hoped so.
I was hardly able to sleep. No doubt our delinquent squatter was though, especially with all those sleeping tablets he takes.
I woke up on Friday morning to find more damage. He had broken off the front handles of two French windows, one in the kitchen and one in our study. So now we had to file a report about the lock, the broken window and the two door handles, as well as his threatening message. This madman had been on the rampage furious he couldn't get into the house and had turned to vandalism to do so. Wouldn't his vandalism be considered a crime in itself and be enough for him to be issued a restraining order and be evicted until the hearing? That was our hope. Anyone with a bit of common sense would think so too but not the personnel working in that glum and depressing court house in Móstoles where people are just numbers and cases.
Soon Oli was with us and working on a report with advice from our lawyer. At about 11.30 we set off for the courts once again. We were received and pleaded our cause. I was so worked up I'm afraid I had a panic attack in front of everyone. I don't know if this worked for or against us. To cut a long story short at about 2 pm we were told there would be no injunction and that the dispute had to be solved in the civil court. So that was it, the judge thought the crime was minor and FT no threat to us. She sent us off packing while she probably went to her quiet and peaceful house with no KGB man in the room next door.
I think I felt numb when we were told that our plea had served no purpose. I just concluded that Spain is like a Banana Republic when it comes to its squatting laws. So now we have to wait until 17th February, that is if he doesn't try to obstruct the proceedings which I am sure he will. I posted my news on my FB and Instagram profiles. No one I know either in Spain or abroad can believe what is happening to us. Neither can we.
We spent the rest of the day with our grandchildren. There was nothing for it but to wait.That night Oli and the kids slept here.
Saturday came and it seemed to be the only normal day of the week. It would have been nice to go out all together but someone had to stay at home in case FT went on the rampage again. Eladio stayed behind with Juliet while Oli, Elliot and I did the necessary food shopping. We managed a quick coffee at Alveran. There were no policemen this time nor FT. As far as we know he hasn't left his room since Friday night. We are still trying to find out who the police were and what they were investigating. We thought it was related to the work of the top anti corruption prosecutor but he is equally baffled. Our FBI agent reckons it must be because of all the media coverage from our case. I think it is perhaps because of some other crime or crimes he may have committed.
Life went on and we ordered a take away - Indian curry - so as not to have to cook. I managed to sleep for about an hour after lunch which felt restoring. The rest of the day was spent with the kids who do help to keep our minds off FT. Oli and I should have been writing a new press release to send today. Somehow we shall have to try and do it this morning, kids permitting.
So my friends and readers, this is the story of our week. I can only hope next week brings better news.
Till then, cheers, Masha
1 comment:
I am so so sorry. Just awful.
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