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Francisco Arce Montes is a
psychologically troubled loner who for 25 years drifted around Europe,
leaving a trail of convictions and arrests for abusing young girls.
His assault on Caroline Dickinson in Brittany in July
1996 conformed to a long-established pattern, in which he cased out
youth hostels and similar establishments before sneaking in at night.
Evidence produced in the French court - which would
not have been admitted in Britain - showed that he was jailed for five
years in Germany in the mid-1980s for armed rape.
He is also known to have committed other assaults in
France, Spain and Holland - as well as the attack in Miami in 2001 that
led to his extradition and trial.
Born in Gijon, northern Spain, in March 1950, Montes
was the younger child of a middle-class couple who ran a corner grocery.
In an interview with investigators which was read out
at his trial, he said he had a miserable childhood.
"My mother hated me - unlike my father. Everyone
accused me of things," he said.
Mental troubles began in his teens in the late 1960s,
when he developed an obsession about hygiene, opening doors and
switching on lights with a handkerchief and washing his food with
mineral water.
Sex problems
At the age of 20, the first sexual problems appeared.
After exposing himself to a neighbour, he was sent to
a psychiatrist who diagnosed depression and "progressive schizophrenia."
In the mid 1970s he left Spain for a rootless life
across Europe, working occasionally as a waiter or driver but living
mainly off money sent to him by his father.
The only acquaintance to testify at the trial -
fellow Asturian Eduardo Riesgo Suarez - said that Arce Montes "knew all
the youth hostels in Europe and spent his time chasing girls .
"For him the ideal age for a woman was 11 or 12;
after 20 he found them old."
Riesgo Suarez also said Montes had a ferocious temper,
telling him in an argument once that he thought nothing about killing a
person.
His first known sexual aggression resulted ironically
in a brief relationship and the birth of a son.
In 1981 Montes broke into the room of a French girl -
Christine Le Menes - at a hostel in the Netherlands.
Now a teacher, Le Menes told the court that he
touched her sexually against her wishes.
But later they met in Paris and had a consenting
relationship, as a result of which she fell pregnant.
She left him shortly afterwards, complaining of
physical violence.
In 1994 Montes was arrested after breaking into a
hostel in central France where a group of Irish girls was staying; in
1996 he was caught at a hostel in Llanes, northern Spain; and in August
1997 he was arrested for an armed sex attack - again at Llanes.
Breakdown
After the last attack he spent some months in prison,
and following his release returned home to Gijon.
His mother, in a testimony read out in court, said:
"I would rather have gone out and lived on a door-step than be with him.
The simple act of going into his bedroom disgusted me."
At around this time, Montes' father died, leaving him
money that paid for his fare to South America - far enough, he hoped,
from the murder investigation that was underway in France.
In July 1996 Montes had been driving from Spain to
London, where he had a job as a waiter.
He wanted to see his son, now living with Le Menes in
the Brittany town of Vitre.
But Le Menes refused him access, so he took whisky
and anti-depressants - and began to check out the local hostels.
In court Montes appeared vague, depressed and lost in
his own mind.
His answers, uttered in a dull monotone, were of no
more than a few words.
But he appeared to show some genuine remorse. At one
point he burst into tears at the account of his childhood problems.
Returning to court after a brief recess, he said: "I
ask Caroline's parents to forgive me for these tears.
"They are totally out of place in this room, where it
is not I who am the victim."
Three years to convict a killer
BBC News
Tuesday, 15
June, 2004
Francisco Arce Montes, who raped
and murdered British schoolgirl Caroline Dickinson, continually denied
his involvement in a string of sex attacks.
But during a series of court cases and police
interviews lasting three years, his shocking crimes were revealed.
Caroline, 13, was attacked and murdered by Spaniard
Montes at a hostel in Brittany in July 1996.
But he evaded capture until US police arrested him
over a similar attack on a woman in Florida in April 2001.
Montes denied raping and murdering Caroline,
initially challenging the accuracy of DNA evidence which linked him to
the crime.
By the time the case finally came to trial, after
extradition and committal hearings, Montes admitted sexually assaulting
the schoolgirl but claimed she was alive when he left her room.
His denials became a familiar theme.
The trial heard he had a previous conviction for rape
in Germany and an attempted rape in his native Spain, both of which he
denied in a police statement.
He also dismissed his arrest in Florida as a "misunderstanding".
Yet it was revealed he had previously preyed on
children in hostels in Britain, Holland, France and Spain.
At a closed committal hearing in February last year,
Montes apparently admitted Caroline's murder, only to change his story
again before the main trial.
'Having a nightmare'
The week long case in Rennes heard evidence from
Caroline's mother, Sue Dickinson, who was concerned about sending her
daughter on the school trip to France.
She said: "I was a bit worried because though she
knew all the other girls, she didn't have a real good friend so I had
asked the teacher to keep an eye on her as she was a bit shy."
Statements were also read out from Caroline's school
friends, some of whom shared the room where her murder took place.
Ann Jasper told how she heard noises and saw
Caroline's legs shaking, but had thought she was "dreaming and having a
nightmare".
Meanwhile, it was revealed Montes had attempted to
attack another English schoolgirl at a different hostel on the same
night Caroline died.
The evidence of a forensic policeman, Major Thierry
Lezeau, cast doubt on Montes' claim that Caroline was alive when he left
the hostel.
Mr Lezeau told the court: "It is very clear to me
that the asphyxiation was significant and harsh. She stopped breathing
very quickly."
Montes himself repeatedly refused to answer questions
in court, but broke down when a statement from his mother was read out.
She claimed she was "repulsed" by her son.
Her comments prompted a rare statement from Montes
who acknowledged the extent of his crime saying: "I understand the
gravity of what I did.
"I know that the Dickinson family will never forgive
me."
After such a long journey from his arrest in Florida,
the combination of DNA and witness evidence convicted Montes in a trial
lasting just a week.
It also brought to an end the Dickinson family's
eight-year fight for justice.
Killer appeal bid due next summer
BBC News
Friday, 1 October, 2004
The man convicted of murdering 13-year-old
Cornish girl Caroline Dickinson is to have his appeal heard next summer.
Francisco Arce Montes was jailed for 30 years in June
with a recommendation he should serve at least 20 for killing Caroline
in France in 1996.
The appeal of the 54-year-old Spanish waiter from
Gijon will be heard next May or June in St Brieuc, Brittany.
Caroline's family said they were disappointed that
Montes chose to appeal following his trial.
Caroline was attacked, raped and murdered by Montes
in the early hours of 18 July 1996 as she slept on the floor of a hostel
dormitory in Pleine Fougeres, Brittany.
She was among 41 youngsters from Launceston Community
College on an activity holiday.
Montes evaded capture until US police arrested him
over a similar attack on a woman in Florida in April 2001.
He was extradited to France and jailed after a trial
in Rennes, Brittany. Caroline's father, John, 48, from Bodmin; her 46-year-old
mother, Sue, from Launceston, and her 19-year-old sister Jenny sat
through the trial.
The court, in a civil hearing, also ordered that
Caroline's parents be paid £24,100 each, with an additional £17,217 paid
to Jenny.
It is understood that the French Chief Prosecutor
will visit Montes in prison early in the New Year to ensure that he
still wishes the appeal to continue.
Montes' intention to appeal was revealed shortly
after the trial. Members of Caroline's family said in a statement at the
time they were angry and very upset to learn of the appeal and that
their wish to begin the process of rebuilding our lives was "yet again,
on hold".
Caroline's family said on Friday: "We are still very
disappointed that Montes chose to appeal following his trial.
"However, we stand by what we said at the time that
we will attend the appeal hearing whenever it is held."
I just want to explain, says Caroline Dickinson's
killer
By John Lichfield in Paris - Independent.co.uk
Wednesday, 22 June
2005
The Spanish waiter convicted of
the rape and murder of the British schoolgirl
Caroline Dickinson admitted yesterday for the first
time that he had killed her.
The Spanish waiter convicted of
the rape and murder of the British schoolgirl
Caroline Dickinson admitted yesterday for the first
time that he had killed her.
At his trial last June, Francisco
Arce Montes refused to admit that he had killed
Caroline, 13, at a youth hostel in Pleine Fougères,
Brittany, in 1996.
Yesterday, on the opening day of
his appeal against the murder conviction, Montes,
55, accepted he was responsible for her death. He
said he had no intention of killing Caroline. It was
"an accident, a misfortune".
Montes, described to the appeal
court in St Brieuc as a "sexual predator", said he
had not demanded the second trial for his own sake.
He was putting the Dickinson family through this
ordeal so he could tell them what had really
happened that night, he said.
At his first trial in Rennes last
June, where he jailed for 30 years, Montes barely
spoke. Yesterday he said he had no intention of
killing the girl when he entered her dormitory at
the youth hostel. He had put his hand over her mouth
to stifle her cries while he raped her.
Jean-Luc Bockel, the chairman of
the judges, said: "But the problem is she died."
Montes replied: "Yes, that is true, I killed her but
I had no intention of killing her. It was an
accident, a misfortune. It was the result of the
rape. I didn't go into her room to kill her. I
didn't cover her mouth to kill her.
"First I would like to say I am
appealing because I want to explain what happened on
that day and the previous days. That wasn't the case
in Rennes - I didn't give any explanation."
Montes said that, after taking
tranquillisers and alcohol, he had gone to a youth
hostel at St Lunaire where he had tried to rape
another English girl. He fled when her companions
woke and went to the hostel at Pleine Fougères, east
of Saint Malo.
Caroline's father, John Dickinson,
from Launceston in Cornwall, told the court he would
be haunted all his life by the memory of seeing his
daughter's body in the morgue. He said: "Life has
stuck at the same page for nine years."
He was followed by his daughter
Jenny Dickinson, now 20, who spoke in public for the
first time about the loss of her "best friend". Ms
Dickinson, who was 11 when her sister died, said it
had taken six years before she could talk about her
loss.
Montes appeared to wipe away a
tear as she finished giving her evidence. By
bringing the appeal, he risks having his sentence
increased.But if his murder conviction is reduced to
one of manslaughter, the sentence may be shortened.
Caroline killer's appeal rejected
BBC News
Tuesday, 28 June, 2005
A French court of appeal has upheld the 30-year
sentence imposed on Francisco Arce Montes for the rape and murder of
Caroline Dickinson.
Montes, 55, was sentenced last June for the attack on
the Cornish schoolgirl at a Brittany youth hostel in July 1996.
The Spanish drifter admitted he suffocated the 13-year-old
while raping her, but claimed at the retrial that he did not intend to
murder her.
After a week of evidence, the St Brieuc jury took an
hour to reach its verdict.
Caroline's father John spoke outside the court of the
"pain of reliving the events" for his family and the friends of
Caroline's who gave further evidence at the retrial of Montes.
He said: "We hope our search for justice for Caroline
is at last complete and that she can be allowed to rest in peace.
"We did not want to be here, but Montes' exploitation
of the French judicial system and our determination to seek justice for
Caroline has required us again to suffer the pain of listening and thus
reliving the events of 18 July 1996."
He called Montes an "evil man" who had no grounds for
appeal.
"It seems that the offender's rights have
overshadowed those of the victims," he said.
Montes technically has the right to appeal again on
procedural irregularities, but the Dickinsons' lawyer Herve Rouzad Le
Boeuf said a request to the French Supreme Court would fail.
He said: "After nine years this is the end of the
matter and rightly so because it has been too long for the Dickinson
family."
Before the verdict Montes, from Gijon, apologised in
court once more to Caroline's parents, John and Sue, and her sister
Jenny, 20, who have attended the hearing at the Court d'Assises in St
Brieuc every day.
Standing in the dock, he turned to the family sitting
just yards away and said: "What I did was awful. It was horrendous. I
cannot be pardoned.
"I am sorry and I regret my actions but I didn't
intend to kill your daughter."
Caroline, from Launceston, was killed during a school
trip.
His defence team say Montes needs long-term treatment
from a psychiatrist.
At the end of the week-long appeal hearing, the
prosecutor recommended that Montes serve at least 25 years.
In last June's trial Montes, who has a long string of
convictions for sexual offences, was given 30 years in jail for
smothering the 13-year-old to death.
The judge said he should serve at least 20 years.
Montes insisted on appealing despite warnings from
his legal team that it could lead to an even longer sentence.
Chronology
18 July 1996:
Unknown to her schoolteachers and fellow pupils, Caroline is raped and
killed in a dormitory she shares with four other girls during a school
trip from Launceston Community College, Cornwall.
19 July 1996: Caroline's body is discovered at
0800 in the dormitory in the village of Pleine Fougeres, Brittany.
About 50 French Gendarmes begin work on the case.
20 July 1996: French police arrest a vagrant,
who is later released following a DNA test.
November 1997: The French magistrate, Renaud
Van Ruymbeke, leading the investigation into the death, visits Britain
for a three-day fact-finding mission.
December 1998: A homeless man arrested by
French police in Marseilles is released after DNA tests prove negative.
2 February 1999: The UK Government urges
France to investigate more thoroughly the deaths of British nationals
after Caroline's father, John, calls for more action by French
authorities in attempting to solve the crime.
10 December 1999: Caroline's mother Sue
Dickinson loses her civil claim for damages against Cornwall County
Council over her daughter's death, after a judge rules school staff
supervising the trip were not at fault.
October 2000: Caroline's father makes his 18th
trip to France to appeal for help from the public in the case.
11 March 2001: Spaniard Francisco Arce Montes
is arrested in Florida after allegedly breaking into a woman's apartment.
March 2001: A US immigration officer visiting
the UK links Caroline's murder to Montes after reading a newspaper
article about the girl's murder.
5 April 2001: An inquest at Bodmin Magistrates
Court into Caroline's death records a verdict of unlawful killing.
April 2001: French police issue a warrant for
Montes's arrest after DNA tests allegedly show a match.
June 2001: A US judge rules Montes should be
extradited to France.
19 November 2001: He is handed over to
American federal marshals in Miami.
20 November 2001: The former lorry driver is
extradited to France for questioning by investigators.
October 2003: Montes is transferred to a
psychiatric unit at a prison outside Paris.
1 June 2004: He is taken to Rennes, France, to
stand trial.
7 June 2004: The trial into Caroline's rape
and murder opens in Rennes.
14 June 2004: The jury takes just over four
hours to reach a guilty verdict. Montes is sentenced to 30 years in
prison.
