Several inmates have been injured in a mass brawl at the tough jail where Scots crime boss Steven Lyons is expected to end up after his time at a cushy VIP prison in Madrid comes to an end. Two rival groups are said to have hurled chairs at each other and used bleach they splashed into opponents’ eyes during the fight at Alhaurin de la Torre prison near Malaga.
Violence erupts at Alhaurin de la Torre prison
Six inmates were sent to solitary confinement after prison guards managed to stop the violence, although disciplinary action could be taken against more once jail bosses have received CCTV footage. Around a dozen prisoners are understood to have been involved in the fight on wing nine of the jail around 7pm yesterday.
A prison source told respected local paper Malaga Hoy: “It’s the most violent fight there’s been at the jail in the last decade.” Several inmates are said to have suffered “serious injuries.”
Lyons expected transfer from VIP prison
News of the horror incident emerged overnight a fortnight after 46-year-old Lyons was flown to Madrid from Holland where he had been held since the start of April after being deported from Bali. After appearing before a judge he was remanded to Soto del Real prison near the Spanish capital, which has a 65-ft long swimming pool, gyms and squash basketball and futsal courts and has been home over the years to high-profile bankers, politicians and sports chiefs.
But like Michael Riley, the man accused of murdering Lyons' brother Eddie Lyons Jr and gangland pal Ross Monaghan in May last year at a Fuengirola pub, he is expected to be transferred to Alhaurin shortly so he is nearer to the judge investigating him over alleged money laundering and gang membership offences. Officials have not yet said a transfer has already taken place.
Drugs feud suspected behind brawl
The mass brawl yesterday evening is thought to be linked to a drugs feud. The nationalities of the inmates involved has not been made public. An investigation into the incident was ongoing today.
A trade union for prison and penitentiary workers in Spain insisted today the “swift” and “professional” intervention of jail guards had prevented a tragedy. The grassroots trade union, called 'Tu Abandono Me Puede Matar' which in English would translate as ‘Your Abandonment Can Kill Me’ said in a statement: “Prison officers continue to face extremely violent incidents with clearly insufficient resources. “The lack of resources, specialised training and teams prepared to respond to high-intensity custodial incidents makes a thorough modernisation of the system essential.”
Overcrowding and conditions at Alhaurin
Alhaurin is home to more than 1,100 inmates, well-above the 836 it’s equipped to hold. Prisoners who have spent time complain of having to sleep in tiny cells with no ventilation where summer temperatures can reach more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Prison union bosses have described the jail, where around 20 inmates took part in an attempted riot in November 2022, as “conflictive.”
Alleged gangster Johnny Morrissey, arrested along with his Scots wife Nicola on suspicion of crimes including money laundering after he was named by the US Treasury as a Kinahan Organised Crime Cartel key member, was also held there before being bailed in June 2024 by a Spanish court conducting an ongoing criminal investigation. And Juan Antonio Rueda, the estranged husband of British expat hairdresser Victoria Hart, handed himself into police at the prison shortly after he allegedly stabbed her to death at her nearby home on January 24 and reportedly confessed to doing something “very bad.”
Lyons gang operation
Steven Lyons’ detention on a European Arrest Warrant in Holland followed a series of end-of-March raids in Scotland and on the Costa del Sol. They resulted in the arrests of more than a dozen people as part of Operation Arborum against the Lyons Gang. The seven arrested in Spain, who include Lyons’ sister-in-law Rebecca Hayes, are also being investigated on suspicion of money laundering and membership of a criminal organisation by the same Malaga-based judge who made Steven Lyons a wanted man. The crime boss’s glamorous moll wife Amanda, 38, was held at Dubai’s airport at the request of Spanish police who remain confident she will also end up in custody on the Costa del Sol after being extradited along with her husband.
