Many in Benidorm are familiar with Ricky Dale, a talented singer on the entertainment circuit, but he has just added another notch to his repertoire -  as a writer!
He has just had his book published "Guilty until you prove yourself Innocent - Welcome to America" - a culmination of over three years of writing and a twenty year fight for justice.

Originally from Doncaster, Ricky went over to America on holiday but ended up staying for 3 years! On leaving school he became an apprentice jockey, which lasted just over 2 years, was a stuntman then he dabbled in the construction industry, married and divorced before finding his feet at the age of 21 in the entertainment business, where he has successfully remained.

Performing at Cafe Benidorm

He arrived in South Florida and had a great time working the prestigious clubs for a number of years, which is where he met his second wife - and unbeknown to him,  the beginning of what would turn out to be a living nightmare. He was deported from the United States in 1996 and only discovered that he has a lifetime ban after being refused a visa from the American embassy in Madrid.

His book explains the reason for his deportation and the extent of the abysmal and shocking treatment at the hands of the American Judiciary - he did not commit a criminal offense or do anything illegal incase you are wondering. His then wife was filing a lawsuit against a racetrack and was suing them for 2 million dollars - which Ricky knew was a false claim and was willing to testify against her, and so she did everything in her power to get him deported and out of the way. I won´t spoil it for those that have not yet read the book but you can see that it´s no wonder people try and avoid extradition back to America!

Chatting with Ricky

Once back in the UK he stayed with family to recover from the ordeal and was invited by friends to come to Benidorm - where almost immediately he landed a job at what was then "Carriages". He stayed for 10 weeks, went back to the UK where he was run over by a truck, recuperated sufficiently and decided to move back to Benidorm permanently - driving over in a Ford Sierra with only 30 GBP in his pocket!

It was here in Benidorm that he met Cheryle Louise, who was on holiday - and is now his fiancé. They have been together for 11 years and have a son Brandon. Cheryle is also a singer on the Benidorm circuit and presenter on Cool FM radio.

Ricky and Cheryle

He started writing his book some years back, with Cheryle typing it up and showed it to famed author and ghostwriter Ken Scott, who having read the first 50 or so pages encouraged and guided Ricky to finish it. On completion he presented it to a publishing company, thinking he would self publish but instead got a deal - and the said book is now available on Amazon.co.uk. It´s a gripping read - all the more so as it is entirely based on Ricky´s actual experience.... and who knows, it may make the big screen yet!