Exclusive:
Brett Dryden’s mum Sandra fears police are trying to cover-up the case in a bid to protect tourism after her son was found dead in a flat with a large gash on his forehead
A mum who believes her son was murdered in Spain has turned detective in a bid to find the truth.
Sandra Adams fears police are covering up Brett Dryden’s death to protect tourism. Ex-pat Brett was found dead in his flat with a four-inch gash to his head in the resort of Mojacar on the Costa Almeria.
A large amount of cash, his mobile and designer sunglasses were missing. But a post-mortem in Spain ruled the 35-year-old’s death on July 22 was due to a blood clot in his lungs, known as a pulmonary embolism.
Sandra, who says she has heard nothing from Spanish cops for six months, said: “They’re trying to cover it up. I just want justice for my son. I will not rest until I get justice.”
Sandra, 56, and husband Robert – Brett’s stepdad – travelled to Spain from their home in Chester-le-Street, Co Durham, the following month and heard evidence of foul play. Neighbours told Robert they had CCTV footage showing three men running away from Brett’s home on the night he died.
And Sandra says she received a silent call from her son’s phone, several hours after medics say he died. After tracking the handset, she found it was being turned on and off while moving to different locations in Spain.
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Sandra said: “We rang the police and said, ‘There’s footage of people going into Brett’s house and running away’. I flagged up all these things and that we think it was murder.
“After that they called us in and said, ‘We need you and your husband to take a step back and let us deal with it now’.”
Brett, a former Nissan factory worker and a dad of one, had lived in Mojacar for five years while running a legal cannabis club called The Dawg House. It was raided by police who took away CCTV footage just before Christmas but it is not known if the operation was linked to his death.
Recalling the moment her nightmare began, Sandra said: “My husband got a call from his friend saying Brett had been found in his house dead and there was blood all up the walls. When Brett’s friends found him and went in the house the police officers initially said to them ‘there’s been a violent murder’ and that he had been hit with an axe.
“A post-mortem in Spain came back that it was a pulmonary embolism and they were trying to hurry us through to have the funeral and trying to put it down to natural causes.
“I was advised by an ex-policewoman who lives in Spain to take him home. I stopped the funeral and we had to go to court for the judge to release his body for us to take Brett back.
Sandra added: “We brought Brett home and had a full autopsy over here but they couldn’t find the cause of death, it came back inconclusive. So they took samples of all his organs and took X-rays and we’re still waiting on that report. We’ve had no indication at all on when we’ll get it back.”
Sandra is frustrated by a lack of updates from Spanish police. “They’ve given us no hope, no compassion, no nothing,” she said. “I ring them every day but they haven’t spoken to me since the beginning of August. That was when we were out in Spain and they asked us to take a step back.
“We’re coming up to six months and we’ve had no contact from them whatsoever. My husband has been to Spain and tried speaking to the Guardia but they’re just avoiding us. They just keep saying it’s secretive, we can’t tell you anything.”
Sandra believes he was beaten around the head but has no idea why anyone would want to hurt her son. I know it was quick because he was only 5ft 5in but he would have defended himself,” she said. “I think it was someone he possibly knew.
“His friends say they can’t understand it. Brett was quite a big character in Mojacar. He knew a lot of people and he had a lot of friends. He was a very helpful, polite boy. He never had any problems, he was very well loved.”
Spanish police last night declined to comment on the case.
A court spokesman told us: “The investigation hasn’t been suspended or closed. It is still open and this incident remains under investigation. The court is waiting for the Civil Guard to complete their full report and present their conclusions. For the time being there’s nothing more we can say.”
