He worked at a mill in Alcoi and he founded the local branch of the anarchist Iberian Federation of Libertarian Youth (FIJL).

[1] According to some sources, on the morning of September 5, 1936, Borrell was one of about fifty men who arrived at Cerro Muriano in Córdoba to reinforce the militia against Francoist forces commanded by General José Enrique Varela.

During that afternoon Borrell was defending the artillery battery to the rear of the Alcoi infantry when enemy troops infiltrated behind the Loyalists and fired at them from behind.

Borrell was fatally shot around five o’clock on or near the hill known as La Loma de las Malagueñas.

According to Spanish government records, he was the only member of the Columna Alcoiana to die in the fighting at Cerro Muriano that day.