Chief justice's head of security identified as mysterious Marbella dinner guest

The mysterious guest who accompanied Chief Justice Carlos Dívar on expensive dinners during his controversial trips to Marbella's Puerto Banús has been identified as Jerónimo Escorial, a personal assistant who also serves as head of his security detail.

According to sources at the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) legal watchdog, the High Court and Dívar's own security circle, Escorial has traveled with the chief justice on many occasions, including trips to Latin America.

For the past 15 years, Escorial has served as Dívar's bodyguard and is considered to be absolutely trustworthy, the sources say.

A member of the National Police force on a regular pay scale, Escorial rose quickly through the ranks alongside Dívar. His current duties go beyond his qualifications, say the sources.

Escorial started out with Dívar when the chief justice was serving as a High Court judge. After Dívar was promoted to High Court chief judge, Escorial began serving as head of his security detail. Dívar brought him to the Supreme Court when he was appointed by then-Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in 2008.

Escorial's business card describes him as the chief justice's personal assistant and head bodyguard. During the time he has been with Dívar, Escorial has been bestowed with numerous honors, which has not only left fellow police officers miffed, but also other judges, who were candidates for these awards.

During a June 1 news conference, Dívar declined to identify who his dinner guest had been but insisted that the suppers charged to the judiciary were "official" business and not personal.

Dívar has refused to heed calls to resign as chief of the CGPJ, while the request by some of his colleagues for an investigation into his all-expenses-paid trips was turned down.