Four men arrested in connection with the brutal murder of a British man whose trussed-up body was found on the seashore in Alicante

  • The body of Francis Brennan, 25, from the Anfield district of Liverpool, was washed up on 'Zenia' beach of Orihuela-Costa, Alicante, in 2014
  • Police investigating the death have arrested four people for money laundering
  • Two of the arrests were made in Liverpool and the other two in Alicante  

Police investigating the macabre death of a Liverpool man whose trussed-up corpse was washed up on a beach in Spain three years ago have arrested four people for money laundering.

They say the criminal organisation also had links with the murder and kidnapping of Francis Brennan, 25, from Anfield, who died from a severe head wound and was found with his hands tied in a bag bound with duct tape on the seashore in Alicante.

The arrests were made in Spain and the UK as part of the third phase of an operation code-named 'Brennan'.

The body of Francis Brennan, 25, (pictured) from Anfield, Liverpool, was washed up on 'Zenia' beach of Orihuela-Costa, Alicante, in 2014

The body of Francis Brennan, 25, (pictured) from Anfield, Liverpool, was washed up on 'Zenia' beach of Orihuela-Costa, Alicante, in 2014

Two of the arrests were made in Liverpool and the other two in Alicante. The nationalities of the suspects have not been specified.

A joint task force of the Spanish Civil Guard and British security officers were involved in raids on five homes, two of them in Liverpool where money was seized, together with jewellery, 60 kilos of drugs for mixing and a mound of documents.

The other three raids were carried out in Spain, with police finding €30,000, (£40,000), several valuable jewels, two vehicles and a latest generation frequency inhibitor amongst other items.

Accounts and properties of this criminal group to the value of two million euros have also been blocked.

The body of Francis Brennan is found inside heavily-taped plastic bags on Zenia beach in Orihuela Costa

The body of Francis Brennan is found inside heavily-taped plastic bags on Zenia beach in Orihuela Costa

A spokesman for the Civil Guard said this morning: 'The operation carried out in the last three years following a joint investigation has culminated in the dismantling of a criminal organisation operating in the United Kingdom and in the Spanish Levante, which is dedicated to money laundering from criminal activities and responsible for the kidnapping and murder in 2014 In Javea (Alicante) of a British citizen.'

Francis Brennan was kidnapped by three fake Spanish police in January 2014 who bundled him into a car. It is believed he was tortured before his death. 

His body was found two months later on the 'Zenia' beach of Orihuela-Costa (Alicante).

Brennan had been on the run in Spain in a bid to avoid going to prison for a stabbing at a Swedish House Mafia concert in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, in July 2013.

Both his girlfriend at the time and his parents had urged him to return home.

The first arrest in connection with his brutal death came six months later.

'In December 2014, the joint investigation team of the Civil Guard and British Security Corps detained in a private airport of the United Kingdom, aboard a light aircraft coming from Holland, the British citizen Paul Scott, with a false Belgian passport as the alleged mastermind of the murder,' said the Civil Guard spokesman.

'The investigating officers determined that the causes of Brennan's death were motivated by a possible debt related to the drug trafficking that the deceased had contracted with the detainee.'

Paul Graham Monk, who had been one of the ten most wanted people in the United Kingdom, was located in Javea (Alicante), where he was hiding in his four-bedroom villa. Pictured: Paul Monk is arrested and his villa raided in Alicante in April 2015

Paul Graham Monk, who had been one of the ten most wanted people in the United Kingdom, was located in Javea (Alicante), where he was hiding in his four-bedroom villa. Pictured: Paul Monk is arrested and his villa raided in Alicante in April 2015

Paul Monk is arrested and his villa is raided in Alicante

Paul Monk is arrested and his villa is raided in Alicante

Paul Monk (pictured) is arrested at his villa is raided in Alicante

Paul Monk (pictured) is arrested at his villa is raided in Alicante

'Both were moving in a criminal world and Paul Scott was wanted for the fulfillment of a sentence of life imprisonment for smuggling more than 40 tons of cocaine into the UK.'

The second arrest took place in Spain four months later.

'In April 2015 the Civil Guard and agents of the National Crime Agency arrested Paul Graham Monk in Jávea, 54, of English nationality, allegedly involved in the abduction and murder, as well as activities related to drug trafficking and money laundering.'

Paul Graham Monk, who had been one of the ten most wanted people in the United Kingdom, was located in Javea (Alicante), where he was hiding in his four-bedroom villa. The Civil Guard kept watch on the house before making the arrest just as Monk was directing workmen who were laying a marble patio around his swimming pool.

Police found 125,000 euros in cash hidden in a pot, a simulated pistol with silencer, forged Slovenian passport and a lot of documentation which led them to continue their 'Brennan' investigation.

Monk, originally from Romford, has recently been sentenced in the UK to 18 years in prison for drug trafficking for shipping cocaine to the United Kingdom worth 31 million pounds.

Paul Scott was jailed in January 2015 for 14 years for conspiring to import cocaine.

Spanish police say throughout the whole operation, co-operation with the British authorities, including in Merseyside, was fundamental. 

Paul Monk (bottom row, second from left) on the Operation Capture wanted posters

Paul Monk (bottom row, second from left) on the Operation Capture wanted posters

British citizen Paul Scott (pictured), the alleged mastermind behind the murder, was detained in a private airport in the UK in December 2014, aboard a light aircraft coming from Holland. He had a fake Belgian passport

British citizen Paul Scott (pictured), the alleged mastermind behind the murder, was detained in a private airport in the UK in December 2014, aboard a light aircraft coming from Holland. He had a fake Belgian passport

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