The Olive Press takes a look at the abandoned site where missing teenager Amy Fitzpatrick could be buried.
The old Hippodromo racecourse in Mijas used to be crawling with people.
If they didn’t come to pick a winning horse then they came for a feed or a pint at one of the site’s many restaurants and bars.
Now, it’s crawling with teenagers and their spray cans who dash across piles of rubble and smashed glass, trying to find a new wall to coat with graffiti.
But beneath the mounds of debris could be vital clues that lead to solving the case of Amy Fitzpatrick, a 15-year mystery that has baffled Spanish and Irish authorities.
The family and friends of missing Amy Fitzpatrick are demanding police dig up a stable block at the racecourse where the teenager’s remains are allegedly buried.
The plea comes as Spanish police this week confirmed to the Olive Press they are yet to investigate the site, despite Amy’s aunt Christine Kenny receiving a phone call from an anonymous source who said Amy was buried at stable block five at Mijas’ former Hippodromo race track.
Amy was just 15 years old when she vanished from Mijas Costa on New Year’s Day in 2008.
The Olive Press took a deeper look at the site this week, which sits over 250 hectares.
Drink crates still sit stacked up against the walls inside a banged-up Irish pub, dusty documents are still piled up on desks inside an old veterinary clinic.
The derelict site is the ideal spot for criminals to bury a body, or dispose of vital evidence.
Guardia Civil confirmed they had still not searched the site, but said the 15-year case had not been closed.
“The case of Amy Fitzpatrick is on hold,” a spokesperson told the Olive Press.
“We haven’t investigated the racetrack. Until we receive enough information we think can be a valid clue to carry on looking for Amy then we will present it to the court and a judge can make a decision about how we proceed based on what we give to them.
“At the moment we don’t have sufficient information to go one way or another.”
The location is a short 10-minute drive from where Amy vanished in Riviera del Sol, sparking a long mystery that has pointed the finger at her stepfather.
All Amy’s Auntie Christine remembered from the anonymous phone call was that it came from a woman ”a few years ago’ ‘a couple of years after Amy disappeared’.
“The police should have everything. It’s never been dug up and I would plead with the Spanish police to investigate this,” Amy’s Auntie Christine Kenny said.
“This is about bringing a child home, giving Amy a proper burial and making those involved in her disappearance responsible.”
Brit Kimberley Simpson was Amy’s best friend and met while the pair grew up together on the Costa del Sol when they were in their early teenage years.
Simpson said investigating the Hippodromo racecourse ‘would be a good start’ in finding out what happened to Amy.
“I don’t know why they haven’t just dug it up,” she said.
Another close friend, Alan Quieros, a former expat who grew up in Marbella, even insisted he was prepared to come over and investigate himself.
“When in Spain I’ll be tempted to dig the place up myself,” he said.
“It’s not like you would be disturbing any businesses, or homes, it’s a disused racetrack and we’ve been told exactly which stable.”
Amy’s auntie Christine – who has long led a campaign for answers about the case – is now urging the case be upgraded to ‘murder’ and is planning to protest outside the Spanish embassy in Dublin.
She is also in discussion with Irish politicians about how to best encourage Irish authorities to liaise with Spanish police.
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