Family ‘left in limbo’ for over six years “because of lack of joined up thinking”
The family of a British national who drowned after falling off his catamaran in Ria Formosa in December 2017 have only recently found out that his body washed up, days later, in Spain – but because of a complete lack of joined up thinking, no-one made ‘the connection’.
While seventy nautical kms west, Portuguese maritime police were still patrolling the area where Robin Warde had been sailing his ‘unique catamaran’ Kleen Breeze – “looking for a body” – Spanish authorities did ‘what was expected of them when an unidentified body is found close to their shores: they carried out an autopsy, noted all the ‘identifiable features’ (jewellery, a ‘dragon tattoo’), extracted a DNA sample, and then when no one came forwards, the body was eventually buried in a ‘numbered grave’.
Before this burial, had ANYONE in the equation – and this includes the British Consulate that was “supporting” Mr Warde’s family – used even an ounce of lateral thinking, the agony Robin Warde’s wife and children were put through could have been avoided.
If authorities had ‘collaborated’ on an unidentified body, in the early days of January 2018, it would have been easy to establish an identity: Robin Warde’s disappearance made all the local newspapers, and even featured in the British tabloids.
All that would have been needed was for someone ‘on the case’ in Portugal (the British pro-consul of the time; the maritime police chief of the time) to have made a phone call/ sent an email across the country’s border to ask either “have you found a body?”
The identification of the dragon tattoo would have been enough for Robin’s wife Merlene to have been given closure – and just as importantly her freedom.
Because another aspect of this shambles is that Merlene was told she could not sell the property the couple had in Portugal – to move on with her life in any kind of effective way – because, until her husband was officially declared dead (after a period of 10 years in Portugal), it was not rightfully hers to dispose of.
Ditto Kleen Breeze: the vessel was not Merlene’s property until her husband was declared dead.
And because no one ‘communicated’ with each other (we’re talking ‘the authorities’ here), Robin Warde was not declared dead for the next six and a half years – even though he was dead, autopsied and buried…
This complicated drama started towards closure when in 2023, Spanish Civil Guard (police) handed criminologist Adán Arboledas a copy of the autopsy report.
Adán – currently working on his doctoral thesis entitled “Criminal investigation of homicides and unsolved disappearances: characteristics, situation, and aspects of improvement” – was carrying out what is called a ‘research stay’ with the Civil Guard of Cádiz.
He believes they acted absolutely as they should have acted in this case, having extracted a DNA sample from Robin Warde’s body, prepared a genetic profile and “according to the protocols established at a global level” sending everything through to INTERPOL through a Black Notice (referring to an unidentified deceased).
Adán tells us, if any authority slipped up in this situation, he believes it is INTERPOL.
“In my opinion, INTERPOL should have, according to established protocols, distributed the Black Notice to all countries, and today I am surprised that this was not done – although I also do not know if the Portuguese police issued a Yellow Notice to INTERPOL (referring to a missing person)…”
Whatever INTERPOL did or did not do, it was only at this point – five and a half years after Robin Warde’s body had been recovered from the sea – that someone had the nous to use the Internet (to try to find answers to all the questions).
Very quickly, Adán Arboledas became aware of the ‘Englishman lost overboard in Ria Formosa’ a week before the body was picked up off Chipiona beach. Everything fitted (date wise/ even when one considers the tides and weather conditions of the period).
“That same day, the Civil Guard sent my findings back to INTERPOL and, as far as I understand, to the British police”, he tells us.
“We waited a whole year, where the Civil Guard in Cádiz, waiting for the identification to be positive and for Mr. Warde to finally be able to rest with his family, kept giving me news, which was rather scarce.
“At this point, I was surprised at how long the British and Portuguese police forces took to take DNA from Mr. Warde’s descendants”, he admits.
“It was then, a whole year later, that I decided to contact (Robin’s daughter) Stef Warde personally”, informing her of the “very high probability” that the “body of the unidentified male that appeared near the Spanish coast several years ago” was that of her missing father.
Thanks to Adán Arboledas, things moved very swiftly from this point, and the Warde family were finally released, in June this year, from the limbo in which they had been floundering.
Merlene tells us she spent most of the six and a half years in dire financial straits, borrowing money off family, desperately waiting for the ‘10-year period’ to end, so that her husband could be officially declared dead, and she could sell the property in Portugal and ‘move on’.
There was a very dark period where she tried to commit suicide/ had a ‘total breakdown’ and ended up in hospital for three weeks.
The 10-year period in which everything was ‘on hold’ would have ended at the end of December 2027. As it is, Merlene was ‘released’, thanks to Adán Arboledas’ email to her daughter.
“He is the real hero in this story”, she tells us – but it is nonetheless a story that no-one in today’s ‘interconnected world’ would believe could be possible.
How is it that no-one thought to contact Spain (considering the geographical proximity of Ria Formosa with Spanish waters), to ask if a body had been discovered? “With the digital era, I just don’t understand how the discovery of Robin’s body was not flagged“, Merlene tells us.
“To be honest I am livid, and exhausted, all at the same time. I cannot believe these people did not have the brains to contact each other”.
Merlene is still not through the nightmare: the death certificate has not yet ‘come through’ (albeit it has been paid for up front, through a Spanish lawyer).
“I just hope this story will ensure that, in future, a lot more is done to improve the way families are supported in situations such as these”, she says. “It gives me some peace of mind to have spoken about this case, but I still feel utterly shattered by the negligence of the three countries involved”.
British Consulate has no protocol for nationals ‘lost across borders’
The Resident made inquiries with the British Consulate which has no longer got the same pro-consuls as it had in 2017.
We asked what protocols are in place when British nationals go missing close to frontiers, particularly if they go missing at sea (which doesn’t, after all, have ‘hard frontiers’).
The question about protocol fell by the wayside.
The response we received shows there is no system for British nationals who ‘fall through the cracks’ as Robin Warde did. The reply went as follows:
A FCDO spokesman said “We supported the family of a British man who was reported missing in Portugal in 2017, and we were in touch with Portuguese authorities”.
As ‘background’, the spokesperson added: “Missing person investigations are a matter for law enforcement authorities. Consular staff would not seek to guide or interfere in their inquiries”.
So, there we have it: 21st century efficiency in an interconnected world apparently replete with the advantages of artificial intelligence…
