Spanish judge calls on UK authorities to question British captain about stowaway murder suspect

A retired British sea captain faces fresh probes over the escape of a key suspect in the murders of three teenage Spanish girls.

A judge in the town of Alzira, near Valencia, has asked the UK authorities to question Kenneth Farquharson Stevens in a bid to understand why Antonio Angles disappeared.

In November 1992, Antonia Gamez, 15; Miriam Garcia, 14; and Desire Hernandez, 14, were kidnapped, raped, tortured and subsequently murdered. 

The three teenagers had gone missing while hitch-hiking on the way to a club.

They were dropped off at a petrol station by a couple before being picked up by another car. 

Beekeepers found their bodies 75 days after they vanished from their home village of Alcasser. 

Miguel Ricart told the police he, Angles and an unidentified third man had kidnapped the girls and tortured them over a two-day period. 

Ricart served 21 years in jail for the hideous crimes  but was released in 2013

His alleged accomplice Angles was last seen on container ship City of Plymouth – captained by Mr Stevens – in March 1993 after stowing away on board before it left Lisbon for Dublin.

In November 1992, Desire Hernandez, 14; Miriam Garcia, 14; and Antonia Gamez, 15, were kidnapped, raped, tortured and subsequently murdered

Angles was last seen on container ship City of Plymouth (pictured) – captained by Mr Stevens – in March 1993 after stowing away on board before it left Lisbon for Dublin

Today it emerged a judge in Alzira has asked Britain for help in taking a statement from the ship’s then-captain Mr Stevens.

He is understood to have been interviewed by the Gardai in 1993 about Angles’ escape but the Spanish judge in charge of the case at the time did not request for any more questions to be asked. 

Mr Stevens told a Spanish TV crew two years ago Angles must have had help to escape.

He insisted Spain’s most wanted man – also one of Interpol’s most wanted – had been locked in a secure cabin after being discovered on board.

He made a failed escape bid before police boarded the ship in Dublin and found it empty. 

He told the two investigative journalists who interviewed him for a Spanish television programme: ‘It was impossible for him to open the door from inside.’

Police in the UK later told Mr Stevens they believed one of his crew had helped Angles escape.

Pictured: Suspect Antonio Angles on an Interior Ministry wanted poster showing how he looked in the summer of 1992 (left) and in late January 1993 (right) 

When he was shown a list of the crew members and quizzed on who he suspected, he said: ‘I can’t say which crew member police had their suspicions about. I cannot accuse anyone without proof.’

Investigators have not ruled out the possibility Angles drowned after escaping the ship, although his body has never been found.

Over the years there have been reports of unconfirmed sightings of him in countries as far afield as Brazil and Uruguay.

The fugitive is accused of triple murder and rape, as well as kidnap and possession of firearms.

Earlier this week it emerged four bones found last year by a pair of hikers near the spot where the girls’ bodies were discovered are human and could belong to one or two of the murder victims.

The murders of the teenagers were revisited last year in Netflix documentary The Alcasser Murders. 

The programme was the first original Netflix documentary in Spanish.

The five-part series, released last year, included new interviews and analysis about the horrifying case.