Extradition cases adjourned over "Brexit" point

The High Court adjourned several extradition cases involving UK warrants on 15 January pending a Supreme Court decision on whether Brexit creates obstacles to surrendering individuals to Britain. Justice Aileen Donnelly postponed the cases to 19 February to allow the Supreme Court to consider the matter. The cases centre on arguments raised in the extradition proceedings against Thomas Joseph O'Connor, a 49-year-old from Roscommon, who was convicted at Blackfriars Crown Court in London in 2007 of involvement in a £5 million tax fraud and sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment. O'Connor failed to attend his sentencing hearing and subsequently returned to Ireland, where he was arrested on an extradition warrant in 2009. The High Court and Court of Appeal previously ordered his extradition, decisions he unsuccessfully appealed. His counsel raised concerns that extradition posed risks to his fundamental rights due to Brexit, an argument Justice Donnelly rejected, finding no credible evidence of such risk. O'Connor then referred the matter to the Supreme Court, with a hearing scheduled for 24 January.