Two weeks after the premiere of the Netflix series ‘The Body on Fire’ about what is known as the ‘Crime of the Urban Police’, Rosa Peral, convicted of the murder of her partner and colleague in the force Pedro R., has broken her silence. In the series, the character of Peral is played by the actress Úrsula Corberó while the actor Quim Gutierrez plays Albert López, the other agent of the Barcelona police force convicted of the crime. The three formed a love triangle that ended tragically, according to the sentence of the Barcelona Court that sentenced Rosa Peral in 2020 to 25 years in prison for murdering, along with López, sentenced to 20 years, her partner in the home they shared in Vilanova.
After the crime, they hid the body in the trunk of a car and set it on fire near the Foix reservoir. The two murderers and the victim were members of the Barcelona Urban Guard. Peral also appears in the documentary released by Netflix explaining his version of the crime, a production that has not sat well with some of its participants since they consider that the approach aims to exonerate the convicted woman. However, Rosa has wanted to defend her position in statements to various media, such as Catalunya Ràdio, which broadcast an interview with her in which she assures that the directors of the documentary intended for viewers to form their own opinion about the crime.
Thus, Rosa Peral remarked in this interview that “the idea was to show that everything became very mediatic before the trial” and that “that I am innocent until proven otherwise was not fulfilled. When I arrived at the trial it seemed that it was guilty and had to prove that he was not. Regarding the documentary, he added that “they told me that they could help me by making a documentary and you can present it and have everyone give their version and then people have their opinion. That it wouldn’t be like it has been until now when everything has been said.” that they felt like it. If they want to make a program saying that I’m manipulative… well, that’s it, I’m manipulative” and that’s why she decided to expose her version.
Also on Catalunya Ràdio, Rosa’s father, Francisco Peral, assured that the Netflix series gives an unreal image of his daughter and that “Rosa is not a monster and she is being strong for her daughters.” He also noted that López remains “the good guy in the movie” in the series. Judicial sources indicate that Rosa maintains that Albert was the real person responsible for the crime and considers him a “psychopath” in addition to considering that his exposure to the media, with the appearance of the series and the documentary on Netflix, generates a “conviction.” extra”.
The Department of Justice of the Generalitat changed Peral’s module in the El Catllar women’s prison and has restricted her communications to immediate family members after she spoke by phone with several media outlets. They consider that Peral is using the permitted personal calls to grant interviews, bypassing the prison regime.
Last week, the Barcelona Court urged that the proceeds collected by Peral and López from their participation in Netflix be seized to pay the more than 800,000 euros in compensation owed to the victim’s family. However, Peral “neither charged nor asked for” money for these audiovisual projects, according to his lawyer Nuria González. At the moment, no money has been claimed from Albert López for the book that he published from prison on Amazon in which he told his version of the crime and blamed Rosa for everything, since he assured that he only covered up for her out of love.
