THE parents of a man murdered on a Spanish stag do have slammed police for taking three years to release an artist’s impression of a key witness.
Ian and Antoinette Mallon believe police would have stood a better chance of tracking down the killer of son Craig, 26, if the “distinctive” picture had been released in the days after his brutal murder.
The mugshot was ordered after Craig was killed outside a bar in the Costa Brava resort of Lloret De Mar in May 2012.
But the Spanish authorities only gave the case files containing the crucial picture to an experienced British investigator working afresh on the case on behalf of the family earlier this month.
“We are really angry and frustrated,” said Ian, 51, of Coatbridge, Lanarkshire.
“If they had published this it at the time it would have been fresh in the minds of the people who were there that night.
“It will be four years in May since this happened and it is absolutely ridiculous what Antoinette and I have been put through. There is no end to it.”
Acclaimed investigator David Swindle, the ex-senior detective who snared serial killer Peter Tobin, is leading the probe on behalf of Craig’s family and employers.
His colleague Eva Maria Navarro secured the Spanish police case files last month following a legal battle at a court in Girona.
“If it hadn’t been for David and Eva we wouldn’t be where we are now,” said former taxi driver Ian.
“It makes you realise that there are other British citizens who are killed abroad and families are getting no help from the Spanish, Scottish or British governments.”
The artist’s impression, which has been posted on Facebook and other social media, shows a man with black curly hair and a small goatee beard.
He is wearing a long-sleeved, blue-striped shirt.
It was created using information given by holidaymakers in Lloret De Mar at the time of the fatal attack.
The investigators are also seeking two more men, one described by witnesses as a “body builder” who is about
6ft 2in with black wavy hair and wearing a dark T-shirt and trousers.
The second man is about 5ft 9in, has a round face and “groomed” hair and was wearing a grey sweatshirt. All three are white and may be French.
They are also yet to trace two women who called an ambulance after surveyor Craig was attacked.
He was felled by a single punch.
Mr Swindle said: “The artist’s impression we now have is a particularly good one of a distinctive man.
“There is nothing to indicate that he killed Craig but he was part of a group that was there at the time. We are hoping that this new information, albeit passed to us three years later, will jog the memories of anyone there at the time.”
Anyone with information can send an anonymous email to info@craigmallon.com
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