A British couple in their 70s were violently robbed in their home in Penina, near Portimão

What scum would do this to elderly people? Lets see if GNR solve this one, but don't hold your breath whatever you do.

British couple attacked and robbed in their home
Updated: 01-Oct-2009


By ELOISE WALTON eloise.walton@mmspublishing.com

A British couple in their 70s were violently robbed in their home in Penina, near Portimão by three masked men on the night of September 22.

Robert Pickles, 75, and his wife Frieda, 72, were at home when at around 10.30pm three masked men dressed in black with gloves broke in through a bedroom window.

At the time of the robbery, Frieda was already in bed, while her husband was watching television in the living room.

Following the incident, Robert Pickles, a retired lawyer, told Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã (CM): “They handcuffed me and tied up my feet.

“Then they took me to the bedroom, where my wife had also already been handcuffed. They hit me on the head and also hit my wife several times on the face.”

The robbers demanded money, gold and bank cards, threatening them in order to obtain the pin codes.

The robbers stole around 1,700 euros in cash, jewellery, iPods and mobile telephones, before leaving the property in the couple’s silver English-plated Mercedes.

Isolated house

At around 1am, the couple were found by their son-in-law, who also lives at the house.

He told the Algarve Resident: “When I got home after work, I found my father-in-law tied up in my bedroom. His hands had been tied so tightly that it had cut off the circulation to his arms.

“My mother-in-law had managed to get out of the house to get help but she had fallen over and I found her almost hypothermic lying near the swimming pool in the garden.”

Nobody heard Frieda because the house is isolated and the neighbours were not at home.

“We have had this house for 22 years and it is the first time we have had a problem,” said the son-in-law, who asked not to be named.

“It was lucky that my wife and two children were also not in the house as they had travelled to England just a few days before.”

The incident was reported to the Polícia Judiciária, who, at the time the Algarve Resident went to press, were still investigating the crime.

The president of the national tourism board, Luís Patrão, told CM that these incidents are isolated cases, which should not compromise or taint the image of a region or a country.

“What is important is to investigate and resolve each case,” he said.

Do you have a view on this story? Email us at editor@algarveresident.com

British visitors warned about Algarve crime
Updated: 24-Sep-2009

By CHRIS GRAEME chris.graeme@mmspublishing.com

Britain’s Foreign Office has raised its alert level for tourists visiting Portugal after a spate of crimes across the Algarve over the summer.

Among the types of crime cited in the warning for the 2.2 million British visitors to Portugal each year, posted on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website, were murders, thefts, burglaries and sexual abuse.

Tourists were advised to take special care when visiting the capital Lisbon and the Algarve.

“Various British citizens have fallen victim to serious sexual offences in the Algarve this summer,” it warned, adding that tourists should be particularly attentive to the use and abuse of drugs such as the date rape drug GHB and liquid ecstasy and should “buy their own drinks and keep an eye on them so they don’t get spiked”.

Female travellers in particular should maintain a high state of personal awareness during their time in Portugal, it says, and should “avoid splitting up from friends and “never go off with people you don’t know”.

According to the Commonwealth and Foreign Office warning, crime remains “comparatively low in Portugal but pick-pocketing, handbag snatching and theft from cars are increasingly common in major tourist areas”.

The website warning suggests that tourists should take care of belongings at all times and not leave bags on chairs while eating or having a drink in a café or restaurant or hang it on the back of a chair or leave it unattended on the table.

“Thieves often work in groups and create distractions with the aim of stealing,” it states adding that there has also been a reported “increase in the number of passport thefts” and advises that loss or theft or a passport should be reported “to the police immediately and a police report obtained.”

The Foreign Office also warns that foreign-registered vehicles and hire cars are also targets, while groups of thieves in the Lisbon areas are reported to be damaging tyres, “especially those of hire cars and then stealing personal belongings from cars after the driver has stopped to change the tyre”.

It advises people that if they are alerted by anyone that they have a puncture, do not stop, lock the car doors and call the hire company for assistance.

Portuguese police recommend car windows and doors are closed and locked at all times while driving at night or in urban centres, while pedestrians are warned not to wear valuable jewellery or watches in public areas.

The alert was issued on September 11 and updated on September 20.

Two British citizens recently fell victim to snatch assaults in the centre of Albufeira, while police are still investigating the murder of an Irish man who was beaten to death by two men in Alvor, Portimão in the early hours of September 6.

The site also says a young Scottish girl accused two men of having raped and robbed her on the beach at Batata in Lagos in mind-July and on the same day an Englishman, Irishman and Iranian accused the bouncers of a bar in Vilamoura of threatening them at knifepoint and kicking them.

Elidérico Viegas, President of the Algarve Hotel and Tourism Association, called the alerts “a serious warning” and told the daily newspaper Correio da Manhã that the news was “bad for the Algarve and for the country” and was proof that the authorities had “been playing with fire”.

“The authorities continued to manipulate the numbers of police reinforcements they said they had in the Algarve over the summer yet ignored the increase in criminal activity, particularly violent crime,” he said.

According to Elidérico Viegas, the authorities needed to double the number of police and security forces in the Algarve, particularly the GNR.

“We’re still at the beginning of a crime increase but this is a serious warning and the British market is our biggest (tourist) market,” he added.

Do you have a view on this story? Email us at editor@algarveresident.com