Pablo Escobar’s first born son has described being rescued from a shootout that left his mother dead by an MI6 agent who adopted him.
Roberto Sendoya Escobar, who now lives in Mallorca under his adopted name of Phillip Witcomb, described finding out about his birth father in 1989 as ‘an extraordinary moment’.
The 54-year-old, who was speaking ahead of the release of his book Son of Escobar: First Born, also revealed how he was gifted ciphers that hold the locations of his father’s missing millions.
Mr Witcomb said he had been haunted with flashbacks about the shootout which killed his mother for years, before his adoptive father, whom he calls ‘dad’, explained the meaning behind them.
He told BBC Newsnight: ‘I had said to dad quite a few times “what were the images I had in my head about a woman in a red dress and all these noises?”
‘They were just flash images I had from early childhood. I didn’t really know what they were, they were nightmares, and he filled in the gaps reluctantly, of course, and it took a long time.
‘It wasn’t a moment. It was over the course of about two or three years I got the information out of him because he was obviously total gutted about what happened.’
Roberto Sendoya Escobar (left), who now lives in Mallorca under his adopted name of Phillip Witcomb, described finding out that his father was drug lord Pablo Escobar (right) as ‘an extraordinary moment’
Mr Witcomb’s adoptive father regularly took him, as a young boy, to visit Pablo Escobar in Medellin in order to keep the drug lord on board and to track his movements for MI6.
He said he was recently given a series of codes, which he is yet to decipher, which lead to his birth father’s missing millions.
Mr Witcomb said: ‘There is money out there. It’s not in cash, it will be in other ways.’
He added that if found ‘most of the money, if not all of it, should go straight o charitable causes that can directly counteract what Don Pablo Escobar did to the world’s population.’
The 54-year-old, who has now found fame as an artist in his own right, also spoke about how he was gifted ciphers that hold the locations of his father’s missing millions
Mr Witcomb, who has now found fame as an artist in his own right, said: ‘One of my most prominent memories was when he put a hand on my shoulder and reminded me I should always remember to be an Escobar. That was a memory that stuck in my head all my life.’
But, speaking about his lineage, he added: ‘It is not a good thing. I’m not trying to glorify the fan in any way… it is just something that is as it is and you have to cope with it…
‘This kind of beginning to your life causes terrible mental health issues – depression and all sorts of issues there – which I have managed to get through and past and come out the other side, thank goodness, with the help of a lot of good people.’
In 1993 Escobar was gunned down by police in Medellin and the fallout from this led to other big players in the cartel being jailed
The public school-educated artist had previously said that he was born after, in his own words, a ‘non-consensual’ encounter between his father, then aged 16, and Maria Luisa Sendoya, who was just 14.
The birth was kept quiet and, although he does not have a birth certificate naming Escobar as his father, a baptism document says Mr Witcomb was born to the drug lord.
The Colombian narcoterrorist built a multi-billion dollar empire controlling 80 per cent of world cocaine trade by slaughtering thousands of innocent people, including politicians, judges, journalists and rival traffickers, while waging war on Colombia’s government.
In 1993 Escobar was gunned down by police in Medellin and the fallout from this led to other big players in the cartel being jailed.
Following his death, Mr Witcomb, who was the supposed heir to his wealth, hired a security team and personal bodyguard in the months that followed.
He previously told the Mail On Sunday: ‘On the one hand those from the old days don’t have any real power any more.
‘But on the other, I am the first born son of Pablo Escobar. It’s blood, it’s family, that’s the way it works down there.’
Sadly, Mr Witcomb was never reunited his mother and was told she died which he says still affects him today.
He believes due to her age that the encounter between her and his father couldn’t have been consensual and says that is ‘difficult to deal with’.