Father’s Lies Cost State €140,00

THE search for the two children reported missing from Cordoba in October 2011 cost the State more than €140,000.

This amount could have been saved if Jose Breton, the father of Ruth, six, and Jose, two, had confessed instead of claiming they had been snatched from a local park. But more importantly, it could have been saved if the forensic scientist who first analysed remains found on a bonfire on a property belonging to the children’s paternal grandparents had not described them as being, without doubt, animal bones.

All evidence pointed to Jose Breton, and police searched the property belonging to his parents on several occasions, as well as the surrounding area and the GuadalquivirRiver.

Specialists were brought in from Madrid who had to be accommodated and fed for eight months, fuel had to be purchased for the vehicles used in the searches, and the studies and reports carried out in the case had to be paid for, all amounting to more than €140,000.

However, Breton has claimed he is bankrupt, so he will not be able to pay the cost of the investigation or any compensation to the children’s mother which could amount to €1 million for each child. Her lawyer plans to ask for 40 years in prison for the murders of the two children and a fine for making a false report.