Parents of murder victims support pop duo's 'justice' campaign

And one of the mothers even got up on the stage with them.

Andy & Lucas displayed a picture which has been used on the Change.org petition calling for permanent prison subject to review – featuring children and teenage homicide victims – on banners and T-shirts at their recent gig with the slogan 'Justice', in support of the families' campaign.

But Patricia Ramírez and Ángel Cruz, whose son went missing and was later found dead in his home province of Almería earlier this year, were furious and accused the singers of using their son's death to promote themselves and for political messages, without asking their permission to display his picture.

The artists apologised, but said they were hurt and offended by the rebuke as they had 'only been trying to help', that they had no need to use the campaign to promote themselves as they had been famous for the last 16 years, and that if they had gone through the same ordeal they would have wanted their child's picture spread far and wide.

The duo said they would have nothing more to do with the campaign, but 'don't ask us for signatures on any petition'.

Within hours of Andy & Lucas' response, Juan José Cortés – whose five-year-old daughter Mari Luz Cortés was murdered in Huelva by a paedophile in January 2008 – uploaded a video on Facebook in which he showed his support for the pop act, in which he gave his thanks for the 'solidarity and heart' of 'people like you', meaning the singers, for helping in the campaign to stop permanent reviewable prison for serious crimes being scrapped.

“This cause is a reality, and I want to reiterate my gratitude for this gesture in support of my daughter,” Juan José Cortés said.

“Every time you show Mari Luz's picture, I will be grateful to you.”

The next to step up in Andy & Lucas' defence was the mother of Yéremi Vargas, who went missing in 2007 from outside his Canary Island home, who has never been found, and who is believed to have been kidnapped and murdered by a paedophile.

“All my thanks to singers Andy & Lucas for showing a photo of our Yéremi and other victims. If only all artists did the same. I'd be delighted if you would keep on doing so, and thank you for not forgetting us,” said the boy's mother, Itha Suárez on Instagram (second photograph).

Going one step further, Diana Cristina López Pinel – whose 18-year-old daughter was murdered during an attempted rape and kidnap by a complete stranger in Galicia on August 22, 2016 – got up on the stage with Andy & Lucas during their concert in San Sebastián de los Reyes (Madrid), as shown in the first picture (from YouTube).

She had bought tickets and gone along to the show, not far from her home in Pozuelo de Alarcón, purely to defend and thank the singers.

“I'm thrilled to be here. The truth is that I'm very grateful, and I wanted to come and support you because I believe that initiatives like yours can only come from genuinely good people with a really big heart,” Diana López Pinel said over the microphone, to cheers and applause, as she stood between the artists.

“If only Spain had many, many more Andies and Lucases, because we need people like you,” she concluded.

Her daughter Diana Quer, on her last night alive, was walking back from the local fiestas in A Pobra do Caramiñal (A Coruña province, Galicia), where she had spent every summer since she was three in the family holiday home.

She was abducted and murdered, and may have been raped, somewhere between 02.20 and 04.00 that morning, and a 16-month search ensued in which her mum and sister Valeria, then 16, were convinced Diana was still alive and being held against her will – although her father Juan Carlos Quer, who is divorced from Sra López Pinel, came to terms early on with the probability that his daughter was dead.

Her body was found in a well in Rianxo, about 20 kilometres from A Pobra, on New Year's Eve 2017, and local resident José Enrique Abuín Gey, 42, was arrested.

Gabriel Cruz, eight, was missing for just over a week after walking the 100 metres from his grandmother's to his aunt's house and not reaching his destination – then his body was found in the boot of the car owned by his dad's girlfriend, Ana Julia Quezada, after police became suspicious and followed her.

As well as these four victims, the Change.org campaign and Andy & Lucas' photograph includes a picture of Ruth and José Bretón Ortiz, murdered by their father in Córdoba when they were aged six and two respectively, and of 17-year-old Marta del Castillo, murdered in January 2009 in Sevilla by her ex-boyfriend.

So far, no firm culprit has been charged in Yéremi Vargas' case, and in Diana Quer's and Gabriel Cruz's cases, their killers are in custody awaiting trial.