€100,000 bail released for jailed man for shooting dead Northern Irishman in Rojales

The Torrevieja court investigating the case imposes daily appearances on the suspect, who was arrested in March after fleeing with his wife to Portugal.

This is how the Civil Guard solved the shooting death of a Northern Irishman in Rojales / INFORMATION

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10 DEC 2025 19:09

The man accused of  murdering a 37-year-old Northern Irish citizen with two shots in Rojales, whose body was found last January under a lemon tree on a farm in Rojales, will be able to leave prison on provisional release if he pays a bail of 100,000 euros that has been agreed this week by the Torrevieja court investigating the crime of John J. Hardy, who came to spend a few days on holiday at a home in Orihuela Costa where a friend lived who allegedly ended up becoming his executioner.

John’s disappearance a year ago triggered a broad search operation in the Vega Baja for several weeks  by relatives and friends of the victim, who moved from Northern Ireland because they feared the worst after the victim spoke for the last time with his family on December 14, as it happened.

The Civil Guard in the lemon tree where they found the body. /INFORMATION

The alleged killer, Jonathan Alan S., was arrested at the end of last March in Portugal, a country to which he fled after the crime of his compatriot John, and in April he entered preventive detention in Spain as accused of being the material author of the crime. Now, when it will be a year since the murder of John Hardy, the Court of Instruction number 2 of Torrevieja has agreed this week, at the request of the defense lawyers of Jonathan Alan, Francisco Miguel Galiana Botella and Alejandro Murcia, the provisional release on bail of 100,000 euros for the alleged perpetrator of the crime. Both the Prosecutor’s Office and the private prosecution opposed the request for bail.

Signs

The magistrate considers that, although there is sufficient evidence to maintain the accusation for an alleged crime of homicide, at this point in the proceedings pre-trial detention is no longer essential to guarantee the “procedural availability” of the accused.

In the order, dated December 9, the court recalls that pre-trial detention must be applied exceptionally, proportionately and for the minimum essential time, in accordance with the doctrine of the Constitutional Court. In this sense, the magistrate understands that the aims pursued – mainly to avoid the risk of flight – can be ensured by means  of precautionary measures “less burdensome for the right to liberty, through which the same ends can be achieved as with pre-trial detention”.

The Czech citizen arrested and released with charges. / PILAR CORTÉS

For this reason, it upholds the brief presented by Jonathan Alan S.’s defense and decrees the provisional detention of the investigated avoidable with a bail of 100,000 euros. In case of paying it, which this Wednesday had not yet been paid, he may be provisionally released, but with the obligation to appear daily before the court, the establishment of domicile in Spain, the withdrawal of the passport, the prohibition to leave the national territory without judicial authorization and the prohibition of communicating or approaching other people related to the procedure, with a minimum distance of 1,000 meters.

The order, which can be appealed, warns that failure to comply with any of these conditions could lead to the provisional release being revoked and the prison sentence being agreed again.

The defense of the man considered by the Civil Guard as the material author of the crime raises in his request for bail the existence of incriminating evidence about the other investigated, who did not enter prison after his arrest as a cooperator or accomplice. Thus, in the trunk of the car of the Czech citizen Michal M., who denied his participation in the crime, they found two license plates from his country of origin where the Criminalistics specialists of the Civil Guard have found traces of blood of the deceased.

The defense also questions the statements of Michal, who claimed to know almost nothing about the deceased and both planned to return together to Dublin.

John Hardy, the Northern Irish citizen murdered in Torrevieja. /INFORMATION

The defense also points out that, shortly before the crime occurred, the Civil Guard thoroughly inspected Jonathan Alan’s car at a checkpoint in Dolores and found no firearms. Michal and John were at the checkpoint in another vehicle and the defense points out that the Czech citizen was the last person to see the Northern Irishman alive. The agents who did the control pointed out that Michal and John were still together when they left and that Jonathan left alone in his car.

This car, a BMW X6, has been located by the Civil Guard in the municipal vehicle deposit of the Local Police of Orihuela and the results of the samples collected inside are awaited.

For all these reasons, the defense considers that there is an unfair “imbalance” in the personal situations of the two investigated and therefore proposed the replacement of Jonathan’s provisional detention with bail of 100,000 euros, a high figure that for now has not been paid.

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