The High Court has ordered the surrender of Roy Norman Kenyon to the United Kingdom, where he is to continue serving a life sentence for murder. In a judgment delivered on 3 May 2019, Ms Justice Donnelly rejected his objections under the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003.
Kenyon was 17 when convicted of murdering a 74-year-old woman in her home. He was sentenced in 1972 to detention at Her Majesty’s pleasure, a life sentence for a person convicted of murder while under 18. The UK warrant sought his return to serve that sentence. He had absconded while on temporary release in 2003 and was arrested in West Cork in May 2018.
Kenyon argued that returning him to indefinite preventive detention would breach his rights under the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. He relied on the length of his previous custody and his roughly 15 years living in Ireland without a conviction. He also challenged the parole review process and the availability of rehabilitation.
The court found that the sentence was reducible in law and in practice, and that Kenyon would remain entitled to seek release through regular parole reviews. The evidence indicated that reviews would take place at least every two years, and likely sooner. The judge said the High Court’s role in the surrender proceedings was not to reassess Kenyon’s current risk or substitute itself for the UK parole board.
The judgment records that Kenyon’s account of his parole reviews and prison history differed from UK records. The court accepted that some records, including files relating to his most recent parole review, could not be located. It nevertheless found that the available evidence showed repeated reviews and opportunities to progress toward release, interrupted by breaches of conditions and absconding. The court also rejected his claim that the evidence did not support unauthorised drug use in prison, citing a proven finding in January 2003.
The judge concluded that neither the UK system nor the circumstances of Kenyon’s case established an exceptional or egregious breach of fundamental rights. She rejected each point of objection, including his Article 3 and Article 5 arguments. The judgment also noted that the Brexit objection was not pursued and found no basis for it on the material before the court.
The order is for surrender under section 16(1) of the 2003 Act to a person authorised by the issuing state to receive him. The judgment does not itself decide whether Kenyon should be released; that question remains for the UK parole board.