Trial for murder of official Antonio Campos in El Ejido: date and charges
The trial against the man accused of beating to death official Antonio Campos, found bound in the boot of his car, begins on 22 October in Almería.
Trial in October for the beating death of El Ejido official Antonio Campos
On 22 October, the trial will begin at the Provincial Court of Almería against H.H., accused of murdering municipal official and local historian Antonio Campos, aged 53, according to ABC citing judicial sources. Campos was found dead and bound in the boot of his own vehicle at the end of September 2025.
Sessions will begin with the constitution of the jury and the declaration of the first witnesses. The accused himself is expected to take the floor in the final session of the proceedings.
What the prosecution and defence are requesting
The Public Prosecution Service is seeking 22 years in prison in total: 18 for a charge of murder with premeditation and four additional years for theft of the use of the vehicle, given that the accused drove the victim's car for approximately 12 hours with the corpse hidden in the boot. In addition, it is requesting compensation of €350,000 for Campos's family members for moral damages and that third-degree status not be granted until at least half the sentence has been served.
The private prosecution, exercised on behalf of the family by lawyer Antonio Relaño, raises the request to 28 years in prison: 24 for aggravated murder and four more for armed theft of the vehicle.
The defence, for its part, characterises the facts as homicide with mitigating circumstances of self-defence and collaboration with justice.
The facts, according to the investigation file
Antonio Campos left his home in Berja at around 21:00 on Saturday 27 September. He had arranged to meet with the accused at around 21:30 in El Ejido for an encounter. Both travelled in the victim's vehicle along the AL-3300 road to a path between greenhouses in the Punta Entinas-Sabinar area, near the old Cuartel del Príncipe.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, at 02:00 in the early morning the accused took a concrete block and hit Campos "by surprise", without the victim being able to put up resistance. The forensic report determined the cause of death to be a cranioencephalic trauma caused by between four and six impacts with a blunt object. The body presented more than twenty injuries—bruising and wounds—distributed among the head, face, cervical area and shoulders, as well as fractures "incompatible with life". The experts detected no defensive wounds. The court will have to assess whether or not cruelty took place.
The accused confessed at the close of the investigation that he had attacked Campos with a concrete block to the head, claiming a supposed "dispute" when the victim wanted to leave the area. The Public Prosecution Service considers, by contrast, that the attack was "entirely surprising" and unrelated to any previous confrontation.
Twelve hours driving with the body inside
H.H. stated that, although he wanted to take the victim to a hospital, he went "blank". However, what he did next contradicts that version: he bound Campos's hands and feet behind his back with greenhouse plastic, placed the body in the boot of the vehicle and drove for several hours making erratic trips through the municipality of El Ejido.
Security cameras captured the accused at the wheel. He parked at around 11:44 in the morning near a horticultural warehouse near his father's home and momentarily abandoned the car. A quarter of an hour later he returned, and at 15:00 he went back to the greenhouse, where he left the vehicle permanently.
In the early morning of 29 September, local police forces located the car and found Campos's body inside the boot. The various aimless routes and stops near his father's home generated suspicions among investigators about possible contact with third parties during that time.
Source: ABC