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Re: Danniella Westbrook Quizzed by Armed Police After Stealing Petrol
Danniella Westbrook Quizzed by Armed Police After Admitting Stealing Petrol on Holiday
Danniella Westbrook feared she would be thrown into prison in Spain after being confronted by six armed police officers at Ibiza Airport after arriving for a holiday to recover from her breast surgery
BBC 17 AUG 2023
Danniella Westbrook has revealed her holiday nightmare as she was confronted by six gun-wielding police officers in Ibiza airport last week – over a previous unresolved offence.
The former EastEnders star, 49, travelled to Ibiza with friends last week in hopes to have a relaxing trip following her recent breast surgery. However, any hopes of a peaceful break were soon dashed as she was confronted by six officers at passport control and taken into a room minutes after arriving.
Danniella is subject to an outstanding police complaint ( known as a 'denuncia' in Spain) over an alleged driving offence – which saw her arrested by national police and detained for 14 hours in a terrifying ordeal in 2018.
She was later convicted of fraud after failing to pay for 37 euros (or £32.90 at the time) worth of petrol she put in a hire car during a motorway stop. The actress' previous legal battle was the last time she had visited a Spanish country until last week, when she travelled to the White Isle. However, the ordeal still hadn't been resolved and she was confronted by police soon after touching down.
In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, Danniella revealed her latest 'scary' brush with the Spanish law – in which she feared she would be thrown in prison again and is now terrified her previous 30 euro fine has sky rocketed to 3,500 euros.
She said: "I landed in Ibiza and everybody went through passport control and when I put my passport in it [said] 'stop, wait for assistance' so I thought there was something wrong with my passport or whatever – them electronic things are always rubbish. Anyway, the guy has come over and said: 'wait there'. Then the door opened and about six police officers came out and said to me, 'We need to speak to you'."
The actress added: "In Spain they all gave guns anyway, that's a bit daunting – when I see all the guns I think 'oh god'."
She was taken into a room after being confronted by six armed cops at Ibiza aiport
The former EastEnders actress feared being thrown back in prison
When asked how she felt seeing police officers, she said: "Oh I s**t myself. I thought, 'here we go I'm going to go back into jail'. And where it's all the fiestas over there at the moment I thought, 'I'm going to be in here for days, the whole holiday' because it does happen."
Danniella was then taken into a holding room where they discussed the outstanding offence with her, in which she said she was compliant with officers.
"They said they have details for a denuncia, which is like an outstanding offence in Spain which has not been dealt with," the star explained. "I said, 'yes I'm fully aware of what it is and I've bene trying to get the details from the judge and everything for the last five years' – or whatever it was."
The brush with the law 'ruined' Danniella's holiday
She then explained to officers she had been trying to get the legal matter dealt with and had even hired a solicitor to look into it but had struggled to get the issue resolved. Reflecting on the conversation with police in the airport, she said: "I wasn't as frightened as before, but it's still quite nerve-wracking – especially when you don't speak the language but they [the officers in Ibiza] spoke perfect English so that was helpful, made it a lot easier and a lot less scary."
Dannniella had feared she could face another stint in Spanish prison but she was allowed to go on her way after speaking with officers, with the whole ordeal at the airport taking around an hour. She then filled out forms and was instructed to go to court in mainland Spain to deal with the matter there.
She explained: "They brought me in and I said, 'am I gonna be allowed out?' He said, 'Yeah no problem, you just need to fill all these forms out with your up to date details so the court can contact you properly or you can contact the court' he said, 'Ideally can you go to court on Monday or Tuesday?' So I said, 'Yes no problem, I can go to court when I leave here I'm going back to Spain'.
"I was going to Alicante because I was going to see my cousin from Ibiza. They couldn't deal with it in Ibiza because it wasn't near where it happened. So they basically subpoenaed me up to the court to try and get it sorted out."
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