ALCÀSSER killer Miguel Ricart has been sleeping rough after travelling from one end of the country to the other trying to find somewhere to stay, report various sources.
The only person to be convicted and jailed over the brutal murder, rape and torture of three random teenage girls, Toñi, Miriam and Désirée in November 1992, Ricart is considered to be the most hated man in Spain.
His family has apparently disowned him, and his ex-wife and the daughter who was born just days after his arrest have not had any contact with him in nearly 21 years.
And Ricart says he does not want his family 'dragged into' the media circus his release under European human rights law has caused.
After leaving the Herrera de la Mancha prison in Ciudad Real, Ricart, 44, took a train in the direction of the southern city of Jaén.
He has permanent police escorts, in accordance with the judge's orders, and the former chaplain of the prison is also accompanying the ex-convict.
Ricart got off the train in Linares to avoid the crowds of reporters awaiting him in Jaén, and was met by a television crew who took him to Madrid and put him in a four-star hotel.
But public outcry at the thought of the accused murderer being paid to appear on TV meant the station dropped the slot, and Ricart was forced to spend the week in what has been described as a 'dingy hostel' before making his way to the Andalucía city of Córdoba.
As a result of the widespread alarm caused by the probability of Ricart's settling in Córdoba for the foreseeable future, he took a bus north to Barcelona.
This involved a 45-minute stop at Valencia bus station first thing in the morning – the nearest city to the scene of the crime 22 years ago in which the three victims, aged 14 and 15, were kidnapped, gang-raped, sexually-assaulted with large and very sharp objects, tied up and beaten – one had her arm sawn off and another had her nipple wrenched away with pliers, in both cases while they were alive and conscious – and finally forced to walk into their own common grave before being shot in the head.
According to various media, the only person caught and jailed over the horrific incident was seen wandering along the hard shoulder of the C-31 outside the capital of the region of Catalunya, and was ordered by motorway security staff to leave the road for safety reasons.
This was on Friday night, and since then he is said to have been sleeping near the railway line close to the station in the Maresme area of Barcelona, with no other possessions besides the black hold-all he left prison with.
Various religious orders in Barcelona have denied claims Ricart had approached them for help and said they have 'no interest' in assisting him, and that they were 'not set up' to deal with former prisoners.
Some reporters managed to speak to Ricart after his release, while he was on the train.
To some, he shouted in anger that he was a 'scapegoat' and that 'what happened to those girls was barbaric' and 'unforgivable, even by God'.
And to others, he said he fully repented of the crime and wanted to 'rebuild his life', but added: “With my name, who's going to give me a job?”
Theories abound, including among the surviving parents of the victims – one mother and one father died of illnesses thought to have been brought on by the trauma – that the real torturers and killers were part of a gang of paedophiles with a high ranking in society, either in the Church, in politics or in business.
Supporters of these theories say the real culprits could not be identified and paid off the police and two other men – Ricart and his friend Antonio Anglés – handsomely to cover up the crime and to take the rap, respectively.
They believe both men were commissioned to kidnap random girls for a 'satanic' orgy, and that the victims were filmed in a 'snuff' movie which some say is out there on the internet.
Anglés is reported to have escaped to Ireland on a ship, but bailed out when he thought the authorities were on his trail and drowned in the water, or have reached the shores and is still at large.
The conspiracy theorists believe Anglés is likely to still be alive and well, and living under a new identity.
DNA of seven different people was found inside the orifices and near the ovaries of all three girls, but Ricart is the only person to have been caught and jailed.
With no friends outside of prison, his family having seemingly cut all ties with him and very few chances of finding a job, Ricart is said to be sleeping under the stars and leading a nomadic existence.
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