WITH its sun-kissed beaches, vibrant night-life and family-friendly fun, Benidorm has been the number one holiday hotspot for Brits abroad for decades.
But not far from the sand and sangria, there is a darker underbelly to this popular Spanish resort, which was recently dubbed the “l of the Costa Blanca” due to a huge surge in drug-related .
The rise is believed to stem from the , who view the city’s dense tourist population as the perfect cover for illicit activities.
The presence of drug traffickers has led to an uptick in associated criminal behaviour, including violence, petty theft, and street crime – with cops issuing an .
But it’s not just career criminals who pose a threat, with a growing number of Brits reporting horror injuries after being set upon by “wolf-like” gangs of out-of-control bouncers.
Steve Didlock, 41, was left badly bruised and needing a CT scan on his head after a doormen allegedly battered him to the ground while pepper-spraying his terrified wife, after wrongly accusing her of holding a drink from another bar.
“They were like a pack of wolves with poles and pepper spray,”; wife Tegan, 31, told Flying Eze.
Steve and Tegan, from Doncaster, , had been enjoying a holiday to Benidorm with their best friends in May 2024 when the attack happened at popular haunt The Red Lion.
“We’d been in and out of The Red Lion, drinking, watching shows, and we just went outside to have a fag, so we had to pour our drinks into plastic [glasses],”; she recounted.
But when the couple headed back inside, the doorman claimed their straw was from somewhere else.
Tegan says she could barely put in a word of protest before the drink was snatched from her hand and she and her friends were pepper-sprayed.
Confused and in agony, Tegan and one of the friends started to run.
Unbeknown to Tegan, who could barely see, Steve had been knocked to the ground.
“There were three or four of them that had him on the floor, whacking him with metal poles,”; she claimed, adding that other bouncers from the vicinity then flocked to the scene.
“There must have ended up being 15 of them,”; she added.
Fortunately, Tegan’s other friend, and two shocked passersby, came to Steve’s aid.
“They helped to stop it and get him away,”; said Tegan. “I think if it wasn’t for those few people helping... if he’d taken a few more blows with the poles... it could have killed him.”;
Steve was rushed to hospital with two black eyes, swollen ears, and gashes to his head, arm and back, where he spent a night before being discharging himself the next day.
Despite this horrific attack, Tegan added that local weren’t bothered “at all”; and refused to go to The Red Lion.
Though the couple have returned to Benidorm since, they remain apprehensive.
“It’s a lovely place to go,”; she said. “But the strip and the square – the , the doormen, everything like that – is quite off-putting.”;
Bathroom blackmail
Flying Eze also spoke to a woman whose partner was brutally set upon by five bouncers with knuckle dusters – also in the notorious Red Lion bar – leaving the 29-year-old with five broken ribs and a punctured lung “full of blood”;.
Her partner, from the north east of England, was on the first night of a four-day holiday with his pal and 20-year-old brother in January 2024 when the attack occurred.
My partner’s brother got pinned down in the corner and was made to watch it
After the brother dropped his phone in the bar’s bathroom, she says a man selling deodorant picked it up and ordered him to pay 40 euros to get it back – which he did.
Hearing what had happened, the woman’s brother complained to the bouncers and demanded the man be kicked out.
“I think an hour went by, then my partner’s friend and my partner went into the toilet for a wee. Then five bouncers followed them in,”; she said.
Concerned by the sight of the bouncers, the man’s younger brother followed them into the bathroom – only to be “forced to watch” the other two being violently beaten.
“They had knuckle dusters and were hitting them in the face and ribs,”; the woman told us, who asked not to be named.
“My partner’s brother got pinned down in the corner and was made to watch it.”;
When the attack was finally over, the trio ran out of the bar.
“They feared what else might happen,”; the woman told us. “The next morning, my partner’s friend got a flight home as he had no travel insurance... he was in so much pain.”;
The woman’s partner, who had travel insurance, was hospitalised in for nearly a month.
“He ended up having to stay there for nearly four weeks with five broken ribs and a punctured lung full of blood,” said the woman, adding that her partner has vowed never to return to the resort.
As for the Spanish police, the woman claimed local officers “weren’t interested”; and that camera footage at the bar had been “covered over”; at the time of the attack.
The Red Lion has said in a recent post there are “fights everywhere, not just Red Lion”.
It continued: “Every busy club has there (sic) own problems, most of them can be solved without any harm. Sometimes because of the circumstances or the people it does get rough just like in any other nightclub of the world.
“We have tried about 10 different bouncers, there all diferent (sic) from last year (so it really cant always be the bouncers). People get very drunk, measures in Benidorm are like nowhere else and not here or anywhere does security hit for no reason. There's always 2sides to every story.”;
Tourists targeted
These incidents represent just a handful of the violence experienced by Brits at the hands of local bouncers.
In December a British tourist was left fighting for his life after allegedly being punched in the head by a bouncer.
Andrew Frazer, 43, was said to have been floored by a doorman in an “unprovoked” attack during a lads’ break to the famous Costa Blanca resort.
Just nine days before, he had proposed to his long-term partner Carrie Howard.
The aggression in his eyes is something I've never seen and will never forget
Charlotte Benson
The dad-of-two, from St Helens, Merseyside, had to have part of his skull cut away to relieve swelling on the brain.
He was flown back to the UK for further treatment by specialist neurologists.
A 42-year-old Romanian man was arrested in connection with the incident.
And just this week, British mum Charlotte Benson described being brutally beaten from behind by a six-foot “meathead”; bouncer as she left the toilets of a popular bar in Benidorm.
Charlotte, 31, claims she was “pushed from behind so forcefully”; that she ended up in “a heap”; on the ground, where the bouncer allegedly booted her in the ribs.
In another shocking incident last year, a Benidorm waiter was arrested after he allegedly filmed women in the toilets of one of the resort’s hundreds of bars.
And in 2016, a British tourist was gang-raped twice in four hours in Benidorm, with a horrified witness making an emergency call after seeing a woman walking half-naked along a road.
of the so-called “muggers alley”;, in which a group of women can be seen obstructing men before trying to pickpocket them – despite being just metres from a police station.
“This has been going on for a long time, it’s outside the Magic Villa de Benidorm and right next to the local tourist police station, which is closed in the evening,”; a Brit who has lived in Benidorm for decades told The Spanish Eye.
This has been going on for a long time… and right next to the local tourist police station
Benidorm-based Brit
Numerous other Brits have also become victims of petty crime, including construction worker Craig Gilmore who was left with an eye-watering £23,000 bill after his phone was snatched.
The thieves were then able to approve a loan through his unlocked Pro.
Gang paradise
But the recent surge in crime is not without precedent.
When the extradition agreement between Britain and Spain expired in 1978, the became a safe haven for the elite of the UK underworld.
There, sadistic gangsters, as mobsters partied with unwitting tourists while funding their lavish lifestyles through drug trafficking.
And these sun-soaked narcos are still in operation today.
Last March, a shaven-headed British mobster was arrested at his villa in Altea, near Benidorm, as part of a swoop linked to drug trafficking and money laundering.
Career criminal Brian Charrington Snr, 68, dubbed the “Wikipedia Narco” for allegedly updating the webpage himself with details of his crimes, was later released on bail.
He is reported to have kept crocodiles in the swimming pool of his Spanish villa.
Now, however, local police have stepped up their efforts to curb the spread of narcotics, conducting widespread crackdowns and increasing patrols in high-traffic tourist areas.
The Spanish town has experienced such a shocking surge in crime related to drug trafficking, that authorities have been prompted to issue safety warnings for travellers.
Drug arrests overall rose by 2.4 per cent in Alicante province compared to last year, but the Benidorm figures leapt up by 23.4 per cent over the first six months of 2024.
Benidorm clocked in with an offending rate of 1.3 crimes per 1,000 residents.
The town now holds the highest percentage of drug trafficking arrests within the Alicante region, marking an unprecedented spike that has raised concerns among both authorities and the travel industry.
Families' torture
But despite recent efforts from authorities to smash crime in the region, many victims still feel let down and ignored.
Two grieving British families say the deaths of their loved ones in Benidorm are shrouded in mystery and haven’t been fully investigated by the Spanish authorities.
Father-of-four , 30, was found at the foot of a remote cliff on the outskirts of Benidorm less than 24 hours after he arrived on holiday with friends in September.
His family, from South Wales, said attempts to use his bank cards were made the day after he died and fear others were involved before his death.
There's been zero investigation and we are fighting for answers
Lee Evans
Nathan's brother Lee Evans and his sister Alannah flew to Benidorm last month to try and speak directly with police about the investigation.
“We've been totally abandoned,” Lee said. “There's been zero investigation and we are fighting for answers.”;
And almost eight years on from their daughter’s death, the parents of Scottish holidaymaker Kirsty Maxwell are still appealing for information.
Newlywed Kirsty, 27, was on a hen party weekend on April 29, 2017, when from the 10th floor of the Apartamentos Payma, off the balcony of a room occupied by five Brits.
But how the tragedy came to happen in the first place remains a mystery and her parents Brian and Denise Curry are .
Kirsty, who got married to husband Adam only months before the tragedy, fell from the balcony less than 12 hours after arriving in the resort.
She had returned to her apartment on the ninth floor in the early hours and was filmed asleep shortly before 7am on the morning she died.
About an hour later, it is believed that she mistakenly entered an apartment on the floor above, which was occupied by the five British men.
A Spanish judge ruled there was ‘no evidence' the room's occupants, a group of friends from Nottingham, were involved in the death of the 27-year-old, from Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland.
Kirsty’s family have repeatedly called for her case to be re-investigated.
Staying safe
Tourism legal expert Adam Jones told Flying Eze that Benidorm is a “hotspot”; for petty crime, and that holidaymakers should split their valuables among their pockets and bags.
“Benidorm is a firm favourite among Brits seeking sun and nightlife, but its popularity also makes it a hotspot for petty crime,”; he said.
You lose every time and probably your wallet. Walk on, don't stop!
Holidaymaker
“Tourists are often targeted by opportunists, especially in busy nightlife zones and on the beaches.
“The most common risks include pickpocketing, card fraud, and targeted scams like distraction thefts or drink tampering.
“British travellers should avoid carrying high-value items, split money/cards between pockets and bags, and stay alert in crowded bars or while using cash machines.”;
Some holidaymakers have taken to Tripadvisor to warn of Benidorm’s ’.
These gangs operate by persuading tourists to play a seemingly innocent game: find the pea under one of three hollowed-out potato skins. While the players are distracted by the skins, criminals swoop in behind them, stealing the contents of their pockets.
“The gangs can have as many as 20 [criminals] in them... police lookouts on corners and other members pretending to be playing the game to rope you in,”; said one holidaymaker.
Another warned: “You lose every time and probably your wallet. Walk on, don't stop!”;
Adam told us that tourists often wrongly assume their rights abroad “mirror”; those in the UK.
“In reality, Spanish legal procedures differ, and you may struggle to get police reports or compensation without guidance,”; said Adam, of personal injury claims firm HD claims.
“That’s why we always recommend comprehensive travel insurance that includes legal protection. If you’re a victim of crime, report it immediately to the local police and secure a copy of the official report for any claims or follow-up action.”;
