The Costa del (insert your own opinion here)

Have people's opinions of the Costa del Sol been tainted by films such as Sexy Beast?

Depending on which circles you move in, it’s either a little- or well-known fact that the Costa del Sol (Coast of the Sun) used to be known as the Costa del Viento (Coast of the Wind) until some sharp-witted marketing man had their bright spark of inspiration.

In truth, the Costa has been the del Boy for all sorts of monikers over the years. A tabloid favourite – exhumed in the wake of the dramatic recent arrest of British fugitive Andrew Moran – is the oft-quoted Costa del Crime.

Evoking images of sun, sex, sangria and ‘Cockernee’ wideboys living the life of Riley on the run, the ‘Costa del Crime’ tag has always carried an element of danger and glamour. Following Moran’s arrest, even the normally mild-mannered The Guardian newspaper has been swept up in the fervour, (mis)labelling the Costa del Sol as the haven to end all havens for UK criminals keen to lay low for a while…

Why a mis-label? Well, Moran was arrested in Calpe, Alicante for a start – a few hundred kilometres north of the Costa del Sol. But when have facts ever been enough to derail the path of a good headline?

The Guardian’s leap of faith doesn’t just stop at slack geography. From Moran’s dramatic tale of bail-jumping, car-smashing escapades, the newspaper extrapolates many things. Chief of which is that criminals love the Costa del Sol because of the excellent security afforded by the region’s ‘cheap property’ (that even offers bullet-proof glass) and the abundance of expats with whom they can mingle and melt into the background.

It’s a pretty laughable attempt to draw any kind of conclusion between the needs of hardened, renowned and awol criminals, and the preferred destination for millions of expats, retirees and holidaymakers – most of whom would barely have a speeding ticket between them.

The Guardian missed a trick, and a pretty obvious one at that. The Costa del Sol might well be seen as the perfect bolthole in the sun for ne’er do wells, but it is also the maker of dreams for thousands of law-abiding Brits each and every year.

It can be the Costa del Fun; the Costa del Frolics; the Costa del Relaxation; the Costa del Retired; the Costa del Education; The Costa del Career. It is the Costa del Whatever You Want to Make It.

So don’t be put off by recent stories depicting the Costa del Sol as a kind of open prison in the sun. The kind of dramatic scenes seen this week have made global headlines purely because they were so rare. A wanted man was caught, and in viscerally unique circumstances. And the best part is… he wasn’t even on the Costa del Sol.