The High Court has ordered the surrender of Charles Hall to the United Kingdom under a European arrest warrant, so he can serve two prison sentences and face prosecution on three further offences. Mr Justice Michael Peart made the order under section 16(1) of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003 on 30 May 2008.
The UK judicial authority sought Hall’s surrender to serve sentences imposed on 6 March 2000 for handling stolen goods and to face prosecution for alleged handling of stolen goods, theft and escaping from lawful custody. The judge said the offences corresponded to offences in Ireland, the minimum gravity requirements were met, and no statutory bar to surrender applied.
Hall objected that the issuing state had delayed in issuing and executing the warrant for the offences awaiting prosecution. He said those offences dated from 1999 or 2000, domestic warrants were not issued until June 2005, and the European arrest warrant issued on 1 October 2007. It was sent to the Irish Central Authority in November 2007, and Hall was arrested on 13 November.
In an affidavit, Hall said he left an open prison after learning that his wife had been threatened and that two men had attempted to kidnap their son. He said he and his family had lived openly in Ireland since 2000, and that he had established a truck and heavy machinery servicing business. He argued that the delay had left him unable to remember names, places and events relevant to a trial, and that a car could no longer be examined forensically.
The judge held that delay and concerns about a fair trial were not grounds on which the Irish court could refuse surrender. Any fair-trial prejudice, he said, was for the courts in the issuing jurisdiction to determine. The court also could not consider the effect of surrender on Hall’s family at this stage. The judgment noted that a separate application to postpone surrender on humanitarian grounds could be made under section 18; it did not decide such an application.
Hall also alleged that Gardaí had arranged for him to be arrested at Tallaght Garda Station on a separate threat-to-kill charge so he would be available for arrest under the warrant. The judgment records that the separate charge was later dropped or not proceeded with. Sergeant Anthony Linehan denied any arrangement, saying he went to Tallaght to execute the endorsed European warrant after learning Hall was wanted there on the separate matter.
The judge rejected Hall’s allegation as unwarranted and unsubstantiated, and said the fact that the separate charge was not pursued did not itself support a conspiracy. He said Hall could have been arrested at his home address. The court ordered surrender; the judgment does not record a later surrender date or outcome.