The High Court has ordered Derek Wade’s surrender to Portugal under a European Arrest Warrant, rejecting his objections to enforcement of a 2009 sentence for aggravated theft and petty theft.
In a judgment delivered on 23 June 2023, Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo ordered surrender under section 16 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003. The warrant seeks enforcement of a single sentence of two years and four months’ imprisonment, imposed in Portugal on 16 June 2009 and final since 6 November that year. The court said the sentence remained to be served in full.
Wade argued that the Portuguese trial breached his fair-trial rights because he was serving a life sentence in Mountjoy Prison and could not attend. The judgment records that he was personally served there on 21 April 2009 with notice of the trial, scheduled for about six weeks later, and that he received the verdict in October 2009. Portugal told the court that he had authorised trial in his absence and was represented by court-appointed counsel. He disputed having instructed anyone to represent him.
The judge held that notice met the requirements of section 45. He said Wade could have contacted the Portuguese authorities to seek participation, representation or an adjournment, but did not do so. The court therefore found no bar to surrender on that ground.
Wade also relied on the 13-year gap between the Portuguese conviction and the warrant, arguing that the delay prejudiced his prospects of parole or transfer to an open prison while serving his Irish life sentence. The judge found the evidence did not establish that the warrant delay affected parole decisions or that a transfer had been approved but blocked by the extradition remand. He said any issue about domestic prison arrangements was not a basis to refuse surrender under the European arrest warrant regime.
The issuing authority told the court in April 2023 that it would wait until Wade was no longer required to serve his Irish sentence, including if he became eligible for parole. It said the Portuguese sentence would no longer be executed after 6 November 2035. The judgment said any postponement under section 18 would depend on the terms of any conditional release and the limitation date.
The court found surrender was not precluded by the Act, would not breach Wade’s rights, and would not amount to an abuse of process. The order directs surrender to the Republic of Portugal; the judgment also records that the Minister intended to seek postponement.