Court of Appeal upheld John Anthony Downey surrender order

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Court of Appeal upheld a High Court order for the surrender of John Anthony Downey to Northern Ireland on a European Arrest Warrant.

Ms Justice Donnelly made the surrender order on 1 March 2019. The warrant was issued on 31 October 2018 for a criminal prosecution concerning two alleged murders and an alleged offence of aiding and abetting the causing of an explosion likely to endanger life.

The alleged offences relate to a car bomb explosion in Northern Ireland on 25 August 1972, in which two members of the Ulster Defence Regiment were killed and several army personnel suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Mr Downey argued that a 2007 letter of assurance amounted to an amnesty or pardon and that the letter, delay and other factors made his surrender oppressive. Ms Justice Donnelly rejected his objections, finding that no evidence had established immunity from prosecution under UK law. She held that he could raise his fair-trial and abuse-of-process arguments in the proceedings in the issuing state.