A BRITISH man who was arrested over the death of a bouncer at former TOWIE star Elliott Wright’s Costa del Sol restaurant is thought to be part of a team of contract killers who shot an Irish gangster last year.
The 32-year-old, identified only as HGJ.S, was part of a gang of six Brits detained at the start of February for the attempted murders of three men at Turtle Lake near Marbella.
Yet despite being a suspect in an attempted murder, the man was granted conditional bail on Thursday by a judge for his part in the death of Jose Rafael Pisano Pardo, a doorman at Olivia’s La Cala restaurant.
It is unclear if the Fuengirola judge was aware that he was granting bail to a man already on bail for an attempted murder.
He appeared before the judge and was released after prosecutors did not object, with the Brit having his passport taken away and ordered to report to court on the first day of each month.
The man spoke briefly at the hearing, when he was asked a few questions about his personal circumstances by his lawyer.
Police described his gang at the time of their arrest as an ‘extremely violent’ British murder squad armed with ‘military grade weaponry’.
One of their targets among the three Irishmen fishing in Turtle Lake included a pal of Dublin boss Mr Flashy.
Police claimed they had relocated to the Costa del Sol to ‘settle scores’ with various drug gang rivals.
The suspect fled the scene at around 12.30am on Saturday night after striking 55-year-old Prado, who was attempting to break up a fight at Oliva’s.
Insiders said that the Brit pointed a gun at officers when they raided his home to arrest him on Tuesday.
He put the weapon down only after officers shouted ‘police’ as they broke down his front door.
But it was not the first time he had pointed a gun at police.
The gangster was also arrested with his hit squad buddies at an undisclosed location near Marbella on February 1.
During a tense stand-off, one of the men pointed an armed gun at arresting police, eventually dropping the weapon after officers fired warning shots.
National Police agents seized a haul of weapons during subsequent raids in Marbella, Estepona, Fuengirola and Coin.
They found a Czech-made Skorpion submachine gun capable of firing 850 rounds per minute, two Ekol Tuna pistols, a Grand Power handgun and a Smith & Wesson revolver, along with 300 rounds of ammunition.
Officers also found bulletproof vests, balaclavas, machetes, tasers, an axe and cable ties, together with GPS trackers and a mobile signal blocker.
“The modus operandi of this network suggests that once it chose its victims it had technical means that allowed them to know their movements and be able to choose the best time and place to act with total impunity,” police said at the time.
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