'My life in Tenerife turned into a nightmare. Now I'm suing Spain'

It is a story which sounds like a script for an exotic, violent, albeit slightly over the top crime drama. The ingredients are an ex-rock star, an unsolved murder with the victim found at the bottom of a well; alleged wrongful imprisonment and an innocent man's three-decade fight for justice.

But Gary Owens, a guitarist from Bramhall, Stockport, who tasted fame with his band, has lived it. His ordeal began in the Canary Islands when armed police surrounded his partner Jayne's Renault car. He was twice arrested and held in jail on remand in 1991 and 2008 on suspicion of playing a part in the death of a wealthy Norwegian club owner on the Costa del Sol.

He says he endured a spell in a 'medieval' jail in Marbella locked up with heroin addicts before managing to break out. He spent a total of almost three years in prison but has never been charged with any offence.

Now after an ill-fated and torturous legal action through a multitude of Spanish courts his lawyer is to submit a case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg next month, seeking £4.6m in compensation from the Spanish government.

The guitarist’s band - A II Z - made the UK heavy metal charts in 1980 and played with supergroups like Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. The M.E.N. reported in 2017 that he said he had finally been told there is no case against him.

It would be his pursuit of stardom which ultimately lead to his life spiralling into a nightmare. That began playing in pubs, schools, and clubs in Stockport and took off with a two-album record deal with Polydor.

The short-lived renaissance of heavy rock in Britain had waned by the time Gary was living in Spain in 1991. But his impressive career, playing later for the band Tytan and then working as an assistant tour manager for Manchester-based Kennedy Street Enterprises meant he remained committed to the music industry and was hoping to record a solo album - an ambition which legitimately brought him into contact with a man who would be murdered.

The ordeal began on April 2, 1991 when a Spanish policeman tapped on the window of Gary and his partner Jayne’s Renault hire car in Tenerife. As he wound down the window, he claims a shotgun was thrust through it - inches from his face.

Gary said: "We had just got in our car and there was a tap on the window, it was a guy with a shotgun. There were others all armed, we had a quick (court) hearing, the consulate were there. Then we driven at very high speed to the airport on a plane back to Malaga.

"When we got there they took everyone off the plane, then we were escorted down the steps," he claims. "At the tail of the aircraft there was a line of Guardia Civil, all with machine guns. It was set up like that so they could take photos for the paper.

"I saw the pictures. I had a court hearing where the judge asked me my shoe size, I said six, she said out loud, 'well it's not him' and they sent me out to sit outside on a chair. They had forensic evidence that the person who murdered the guy wore size 8 to 9 shoes as they left bloody footprints at the scene.

"I was writing songs, that's how I knew the dead guy. He had a 24 track recording studio in his basement. I was doing some small gigs and hoping to record a solo album. But I did not need to earn money at that time."

Fifteen officers surrounded his vehicle outside an apartment in Tenerife, he claims. Gary spent 30 months in high security jails before being released on bail in October 1993, without charge. The M.E.N. was there to witness his release.

He was arrested on suspicion of murdering a Norwegian businessman Torbjorn Heta. The body of Mr Heta, 33, the owner of a nightclub and recording studio in Marbella, was found down a well. Twelve people, including Gary, were arrested in connection with the killing - but it remains unsolved.

Gary, 62, a former Bramhall High School pupil, returned to the UK in October 1995 after being advised by officials in the British Embassy in Madrid to leave Spain. But, in 2008, while living in Poynton with Jayne, he was issued with a European Arrest Warrant.

He fought extradition proceedings through the High Court, and Supreme Court, but lost and, in November 2009, was flown back to Spain. Gary says he was put on 'the railroad' - moved from jail to jail throughout the country - for several weeks before being granted £5,000 bail in February 2010.

He spent the next six years on bail before being told that no action would be taken against him. It took until December 2016 for him to get the £5000 bail money back.

He has called for a public inquiry into why he was wrongfully imprisoned and aims to sue British and Spanish authorities.

He claims others attempted to set him up for the murder, which he believes was linked to a drugs-related deal which went wrong. For his own safety he was given the name ‘Charles Axon’ while held in custody in Spain, he says.

Gary said: “I had met the man who was murdered as he owned a 24-track state-of-the art recording studio in the basement of his villa. I was being given the chance of recording a solo album there.”

But about a month before his arrest, Gary claims he was warned at gunpoint by three men - who he believes were the killers - to get out of Sitio de Calahonda, a small town near Marbella, in the wake of Mr Heta’s murder.

He believes British drug gangs were involved in the murder. Gary wrote to former prime minister, David Cameron, and then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and Foreign Office officials demanding an investigation.

He said: “For 25 years I have been accused of a crime that there was no evidence for. I have never been charged and I have been falsely imprisoned. My music career has been ruined and my businesses and family have suffered.

“We want an investigation at national level in the UK and Spain. I have been unjustly treated by the Spanish and British justice systems. We are claiming compensation from the Spanish system for false imprisonment and human rights breaches."

Speaking of his first incarceration in the 90s, he added: "I only got sent to the jail in Malaga because I escaped from the first jail they put me in, in Marbella. They put me in with a load of gypsies who were jacking up smack. I don't take drugs, and I am a straight guy. They were stealing my clothes and threatening me with knives. I complained to the British Consul who came down but it didn't change anything.

"So I paid a gypsy woman money to bring me a hacksaw and just cut the bars in my cell, got out, and booked into a hotel down the road. I was there for about seven days with my feet up. Then there was a knock at the door and two guys with their guns out - but pointing them at the floor. Then I was sent to Malaga prison.

"When I got to the old Malaga prison the warden had been told to handcuff me to a bed in a cell that was within another cell. I was there for seven days when the governor of the prison saw and said they were letting me go."

But delays in processing 'paperwork' meant Gary spent 30 months in custody before being finally released, he says - only to be extradited and arrested again 13 years later.

Gary said: "The purpose of taking the case to the Court of Human Rights is to get the law in Spain changed so this can never happen to anyone again. We are also suing the Spanish government. I have two lawyers now and one is a Professor of law in Spain."

Victor Soriano i Piqueras, one of two lawyers representing Gary, said: "Mr Owens filed a claim for compensation before the Spanish Ministry of Justice, which was rejected. For that reason, we appealed the Ministry's decision before the Spanish courts. The competent court is the Audiencia Nacional.

"When the Audiencia Nacional rejected the appeal, we lodged an appeal in cassation with the Supreme Court, which was also rejected. Finally, we lodged an appeal for amparo with the Constitutional Court, which was rejected. The Spanish courts refuse to compensate Mr. Owens on the grounds that there were formal errors in the application for compensation submitted to the Ministry.

"The next step is to bring an action against the Kingdom of Spain before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. We are currently preparing the application and its translation into French, with the intention of having it registered with the Court by 31 October at the latest.

"Before the ECHR we will demand that Spain be condemned for violating the rights of Mr. Owens and that he be compensated in the amount initially requested, plus interest and the costs of the proceedings. Since the beginning of this procedure, we believe that it would only be possible to win this litigation before the ECHR."

Gary, who now lives in Scunthorpe with Jayne, followed his dream after being dazzled by the playing of Michael Schenker with the band UFO at Manchester Free Trade Hall on June 17th 1978. He said: "After that concert I became 100 per cent committed to becoming a rock guitarist and rehearsed four to six hours a day on my own."

In November that year he met AC/DC backstage at Manchester Apollo and asked their advice on how to break into the industry. Within two years his band was in the UK heavy metal charts. The seeds had been sown for an innocent but fateful meeting a decade later with Mr Heta.

Asked to respond to Mr Owens taking his case to the European Court of Human Rights the Ministry of Justice in Spain did not respond. But a spokeswoman has previously told the MEN: “I’m afraid that we cannot help you with your request. You should try to get in touch with the Spanish court that judged the case.”

Asked by the MEN to respond to Mr Owens' ordeal a spokesperson for the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said this week: “We provided consular support to a British man in Spain.”

A II Z - named after the street atlas and founded by Gary - saw success after being formed in 1979 and rode the new wave of British heavy metal before breaking up in 1982.

The Manchester Evening News has approached the Spanish Ministry of Justice for further comment.