On the 16th May at Westminster Magistrates’ Court DJ Tempia refused the application of the US government for the extradition of our client to the USA to face trial for historic fraud offences. Today the CPS extradition unit confirmed that there would be no appeal against that decision.
The proceedings against our client lasted two years and involved the instruction of various experts both here and in the USA. Ben Watson KC was instructed on behalf of our client throughout.
Our objections to extradition were that he would be subject to inhuman or degrading treatment contrary to s87 Extradition Act 2003 (Article 3 – ECHR) due to the prison conditions at the penal institutions that he would be remanded in if the court were to order his extradition and, given his various health issues and close family ties in the UK, it would be oppressive to order his extradition in accordance with his rights granted under Article 8 of the ECHR and s91 of the Extradition Act.
Detailed submissions combined with medical and psychiatric expert evidence was presented to the court on our client’s behalf over two separate hearings before the District Judge handed down her judgement refusing the extradition request and ordering our client to be discharged.
This case, as with all US extradition requests, was hard fought and took a considerable toll on our 71 year old client who had been accused of offences he had not committed and faced spending the rest of his life in jail if he were unsuccessful in defeating the extradition request. He was supported throughout by his close knit family and we are very happy that he can now look forward to spending quality time with them and returning to some semblance of normal life.
Senior partner Mark Bowen acted for our client throughout the proceedings. For more information on the extradition work we carry out at Shearman Bowen please contact the office for more details. Please press here to access press reports about the case.