
Five Great Reads: a KGB ‘illegal' tells all, a cold case half-solved, and ‘the Citizen Kane of rock movies'
Top of the (long) weekend to you all. I trust Australian readers marked Good Friday in the traditional fashion: by complaining that nothing was open. Before you head to the shops to restock, here are some amazing tales to pore over.
A young woman's body was found hanging from a pine tree in Portbou one morning in 1990. The position she was found in suggested she could not have got there alone but her death was ruled a suicide and the mystery girl's body was buried in a mass grave at the local cemetery.
A 2022 true crime program revived interest in the case. An Austrian TV network broadcast a short follow-up segment. An Italian holidaying there with relatives emailed in a tip. The next day the Austrian show's director made a call to someone who had given up looking for answers.
Art imitates life: The police officer turned author Rafael Jiménez in 2017 wrote a novel, imagining the girl's story, called The Hanging Bride in the Land of Wind.
How long will it take to read: Twelve minutes.
From smoked salmon to award-winning cheddar, luxury foodstuffs have become hot property for UK criminals. And the thieves – sophisticated and clearly 'specialists' in artisan produce, according to the victims – are using all the methods in the online scammers' toolbox to pull off their heists.
Main character energy: In the most meta moment in Five Great Reads history, the aggrieved fishmonger in this story is Chris Swales (no relation, I think).
How long will it take to read: Six minutes.
Making the decision to send your children to school wouldn't be an inflection point in most films but it marks the moment the hero of A New Kind of Wilderness admits he can no longer cope. The documentary follows Nik Payne, who with his wife, Maria, was raising and home schooling their children in remote Norway – until cancer claimed Maria's life.
Now the remaining Payne family are touring the world's film festivals, holding Q&As after screenings. They made the mistake the first time of sitting through A New Kind of Wilderness in full. As Patrick Barkham, who caught up with Nik Payne and his three children, writes: 'Watching him grieve on film is agonising.'
'It's part of you for ever but it's not the defining part.' – Nik Payne on grief.
How long will it take to read: Four minutes.
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If your father sat you down for a chat and that was his opening line, where would you mind race to? Were your parents breaking up? Were you really adopted?
Peter Herrmann, 16, was finally about to learn the reason his father detested US pop music. Turns out dad was a deep-cover KGB spy, and that conversation was the catalyst for Herrmann's recruitment by Moscow as a second-generation 'illegal'.
The man codenamed 'the Inheritor' shares the story of his brief career in espionage.
How long will it take to read: Fourteen minutes.
Further viewing: The Americans is somehow still one of the more slept-on shows of the prestige TV era.
When you read the phrase 'the Citizen Kane of rock movies', what springs to mind – The Wall? Purple Rain? The film critic Mark Kermode was in fact referring to Slade in Flame, released in 1975 as a vehicle for the band behind such misspelled glam anthems as Cum On Feel the Noize.
Featuring canal-side conversations about the meaningless of life amid pintloads of grimness, it tanked upon release. On the eve of its 50th anniversary re-release, the band and film-makers reflect on its favourable reassessment.
How long will it take to read: Four minutes.
Sneak preview: The film's trailer suggests it may have more in common with Ken Russell's Tommy than Orson Welles.
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But as the new series of the dating show starts on Monday, we can reveal a darker underbelly to the island far removed from its reputation as the more laid-back luxury sister to the Balearic party capital Ibiza. Tourists have been victims of rape, daylight robbery and assault, while under pressure cops have already arrested 50 suspected pickpockets before the summer season has barely started. Last week a reality TV star was rushed to hospital after reporting being drugged and robbed at a party in a horrifying ordeal. Austrian model Vanessa Mariposa, 32, was left vomiting and unable to walk after she was allegedly spiked on a night out in Majorca. She said: "I was robbed - my Cartier bracelet was taken off my wrist and my SIM card was removed from my phone. 'I'm convinced the people who did this had far worse intentions... otherwise they wouldn't have drugged us or taken steps to stop us from calling for help.' 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Seven French men and one Swiss are still in prison awaiting trial. Last week police arrested a Senegalese man accused of stabbing a young Dutch man in the back in Playa de Palma after being kicked out of a bar. I was robbed - my Cartier bracelet was taken off my wrist and my SIM card was removed from my phone. I'm convinced the people who did this had far worse intentions Vanessa Mariposa The victim had to be hospitalised in Son Espases with a punctured lung. The suspect was charged with attempted murder. Police have already had their work cut out this year, despite the summer season only just getting underway. Nearly 50 pickpockets and petty thieves targeting tourist victims have been arrested in the past month by police in Majorca who have drafted in early reinforcements to tackle an expected summer crimewave. National Police on the holiday island announced last month that they had brought forward 'Operation Summer' by bringing in extra officers from the mainland specialising in 'prevent and rapid response' crimefighting to work along town hall-employed local police. A spokesman for the force in Majorca said: 'They will serve on the island for a month as a prelude to the incorporation of other units who will work in the municipality of Palma ahead of the arrival of reinforcements in Manacor in Majorca, Ibiza and Menorca.' A National Police spokesman said that the arrests included pickpockets and someone wanted for drug trafficking. They also seized cash, ID documents and high-end stolen items including designer sunglasses. But with the island proving to be a lucrative hunting ground for criminals, it is unlikely that they will go quietly. Violent clashes 11 Many of the Algerian immigrants appear to have arrived on the island in small boats. 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Many of the Algerian immigrants appear to have arrived on the island in small boats, prompting the Balearics President Marga Prohens to blame the lack of troops from the State Security Forces and Corps (FFCCSE) for the growing problem. She said: "The lack of FFCCSE troops is linked to difficulties in controlling the worrying crime data in the Balearic Islands. "As a government, we can only share the concern that this brings to citizens, especially when migrants arriving on the shores of the Islands face them with defiant and obscene gestures.' Around 2,000 migrants have arrived already so far this year. We have had so much immigration and there really aren't enough staff to deal with it Luis Bernardo Fernandez Mr Fernandez told The Sun: 'On the subject of immigration we have been overwhelmed. 'Around 2,000 migrants have arrived already so far this year. We have had so much immigration and there really aren't enough staff to deal with it. 'Police are moved from Majorca to the other islands of Ibiza and Formentera to help out. 'In the summer reinforcements are usually brought in to boost police numbers but what is happening is that not everyone can come because of the high rental prices. 'In Ibiza there's nowhere to live. In Majorca it's impossible. "There is all this talk of summer operations and reinforcements but there's always going to be a problem when there's no extra incentives for Civil Guard officers to come here, which is something we've been fighting for for years. 'As things stand today, the Balearic Islands are a place of punishment for officers who get transferred here. 'Nobody wants to come to places like Majorca because of the high cost of living and the fact officers don't get any extra wages or housing allowance of any kind. 'There is an increase in the number of officers but the ideal number of Civil Guard officers for the Balearic Islands should be around 1,730 and at present we currently have only around 1,200 to 1,300. 'We would need around 500 more and 500 are not going to come in the summer. 'The lack of police officers is definitely a factor that goes towards explaining these very concerning crime figure increases.' 11 Palma Port is a popular area with joggers, cyclists and boaters Credit: Getty