The Barcelona City Guard arrested Albert López’s brother this Friday, following a case that later led to a broader investigation into what became known as the City Police crime. López’s sibling faced charges tied to gender violence, and authorities noted a long record of prior offenses, with more than 40 entries on his criminal history.
Police sources described how a woman reported threats from her partner, who had shown up at her mother’s home. A patrol located him quickly and found that he had also sent threatening messages to the complainant’s mother. Officials moved both women to the City Police’s Ciutat Vella Victim Care Service for support and filed formal complaints there.
The arrest occurred around 3:00 p.m. in Barcelona’s Sant Martí district. After the detainee was taken into custody, the case was slated to proceed to court in the hours that followed. In a prior ruling from 2020, Rosa Peral received a 25-year prison sentence and Albert López 20 years for the killing of her partner, Pedro R., a case that has lingered in public debate. The trio had ties to the Barcelona City Guard. More recently, public attention resurfaced with the TV series The Body on Fire, which sparked renewed media interest in the events.
The Supreme Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) affirmed that Rosa Peral and Albert López were responsible for Pedro’s death in May 2017, in the dwelling they shared with the victim. Reports indicate Pedro’s body was found burned in the trunk of his own car along a wooded road near the Foix reservoir. The court concluded that the couple, who were romantically involved, kept their affair despite Rosa living with Pedro. They ultimately decided to end his life because he was seen as an obstacle to their relationship.
joint crime
The ruling states that the two conspirators devised a plan to end the victim’s life and carried it out in the early hours of May 2, 2017. On that day, Peral returned to Pedro’s home after spending the afternoon with him and his daughters, made several phone calls to López, and, at an unspecific time in the early morning hours, López arrived at the home. They attacked the victim together, or at least with one partner’s active involvement, and deprived him of life through actions carried out in concert, fully aware that their course of action carried lethal consequences.
Shortly after the crime, the primary defendants were placed in temporary detention and have remained in custody. Unlike Peral, López has offered few interviews since his imprisonment. In 2022, he sent a note to a television program denying intent and expressing that the time in confinement had offered him profound self-reflection.
‘Presumption of guilt’
Apart from his studies in criminology, the statement also notes that he reflected on his circumstances and described a sense of personal insight into his surroundings, recognizing that his involvement was tethered to the broader events. He argues that his guilt is limited to concealing Rosa’s crime and that his biggest error was presuming Peral would solve the situation. He asserts his willingness to reveal what happened that afternoon.
In 2021 Albert published a book exceeding 400 pages titled Presumption of Guilt, in which he repeated his claim of innocence and suggested Rosa sought his help to hide the body. He contends there are pieces of evidence overlooked by investigators that could prove his exoneration. The work emerged from a creative-writing workshop conducted during his time at Quatre Camins prison and has since become widely read in Amazon’s marketplace. The author also describes daily prison life, including his interactions with fellow inmates through sports and educational activities.