Three British women have been sexually assaulted in separate attacks at the same Spanish hostel after a Tunisian man allegedly posed as a member of staff to gain their trust before targeting them, Spanish police have confirmed following his arrest in Valencia.
The 32-year-old suspect, believed to have been a guest at the budget hostel in the city’s Camins al Grau neighbourhood, is alleged to have carried out three distinct attacks over the course of two days — with the first coming to light only when two younger victims called police in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
According to respected local newspaper Las Provincias, the suspect opened the door to two British women aged 18 and 19 when they arrived by Uber just before 1.30am, pretending to work at the establishment. He allegedly tricked them into following him toward a bathroom before carrying out sexual assaults on both. When they sensed something was wrong and tried to leave, he is said to have grabbed them by the arms to stop them — groping the 19-year-old and attempting to kiss the 18-year-old while putting his hand under her skirt. He then allegedly followed them to the women’s bathroom, undressed and began showering. The women called police.
When officers arrived, a third British woman — a 26-year-old understood to be a roommate of the other two — told them the same man had attacked her on Sunday morning. She said she had been cleaning her teeth in the women’s bathroom when he crept up behind her, put his arms around her and rubbed himself against her without her consent.
A specialist police unit dealing with cases of violence against women is now involved in the investigation. It was not immediately clear whether all three women had given formal statements. The alleged attacker is due to appear before an investigating magistrate who will decide whether to remand him in custody or release him on bail pending the ongoing investigation.
The Valencia case is the latest in a series of serious sexual assaults on British tourists in Spain in recent weeks. Last month a van driver was arrested in Palma, Majorca, after allegedly grabbing a young British woman from the street while she was walking back to her hotel along the seafront Paseo Maritimo in the early hours of 11 May, bundling her into his vehicle and assaulting her as he drove. She escaped only when the van stopped at a red light and witnesses who had seen the abduction intervened and photographed the licence plate — enabling police to identify and arrest him.
On 1 May, a foreign tourist in Manacor, Majorca, alleged she was spiked by two men she had met in a bar before being driven to waste ground and sexually assaulted on the back seat of their car. She escaped and begged locals for help, leading to two arrests.
