The Supreme Court has cleared the way for Robert Lloyd Heywood to be extradited from Ireland to England to face allegations of heroin trafficking and violent assaults dating from the mid-1990s.
Mr Heywood, who had been living in Dundalk, challenged his extradition on the basis of the lengthy history of the case. British authorities had been seeking his return for more than ten years by the time the matter reached the Supreme Court.
Three warrants originally issued at Telford Magistrates’ Court in October 1998. They alleged a conspiracy to supply heroin between 1995 and 1996 and two assaults causing grievous bodily harm. The allegations included claims that drug dealers were subjected to severe violence. Mr Heywood has not been tried on those allegations, and the Irish courts were not determining his guilt.
The extradition process had repeatedly encountered legal and procedural difficulties. Mr Heywood was first arrested in Dundalk in January 1999. He spent more than two years in custody after being unable to meet bail terms. He was later released after an Irish court found that part of his detention had become unlawful.
A second arrest in 2002 was also found unlawful because the original English warrants had effectively been exhausted. Replacement warrants were issued later that year, and Mr Heywood was arrested again in September 2003.
Mr Justice Fennelly found that delays between May 2001 and November 2002 amounted to exceptional circumstances. Two periods of unlawful detention, each lasting about six days, were also factors in Mr Heywood’s favour.
However, the court considered the full history rather than those periods alone. Earlier findings had concluded that Mr Heywood remained outside England while aware police wanted to contact him, while much of the later period was occupied by his own legal challenges.
Taking the alleged seriousness of the drug trafficking and assaults into account, the Supreme Court held that extradition would not be unjust, oppressive or invidious. The appeal was dismissed and the existing High Court orders for his delivery remained enforceable.