The High Court has ordered Mark Warner to be surrendered to Northern Ireland to face prosecution over an alleged sexual assault on a child.
Northern Irish authorities sought Warner’s surrender under a Trade and Co-operation Agreement warrant issued at Laganside Magistrates Court in Belfast in February 2024. The warrant alleges that, on a date between 25 March and 18 April 2018, Warner touched a child under 18 on her bottom over her clothing and then under her clothing on her bottom and vagina.
Warner was arrested in Ireland on 20 January 2025 and granted bail pending the surrender proceedings.
He did not dispute his identity, the correspondence between the alleged conduct and an Irish sexual assault offence, or most other statutory requirements for surrender. His sole objection concerned the minimum seriousness threshold under the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003.
The warrant stated that sexual assault in Northern Ireland carries a maximum sentence of 10 years on indictment. However, evidence placed before the High Court showed that the Public Prosecution Service had decided to prosecute Warner in the Magistrates Court. That court can impose a maximum of six months’ imprisonment for an individual offence.
Warner argued that this meant the offence did not meet the statutory requirement that a prosecution offence be punishable by at least 12 months’ imprisonment.
Mr Justice Patrick McGrath rejected that argument. He held that the test is based on the maximum punishment available for the offence under the law of the requesting jurisdiction, not the sentence available in the particular court selected to hear the case.
Because sexual assault is punishable in Northern Ireland by up to 10 years’ imprisonment, the minimum-gravity requirement was satisfied even if Warner’s prosecution remained in the Magistrates Court.
The court therefore ordered his surrender to Northern Ireland under section 16 of the 2003 Act. The judgment does not determine the truth of the allegation or Warner’s guilt.