The High Court has ordered Noel McGrath’s surrender to the United Kingdom under a European arrest warrant so he can serve the remainder of a custodial sentence imposed for robbery, carrying a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence, and aggravated vehicle taking. The court dismissed his objections and made a surrender order under section 16(1) of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003.
Mr Justice Paul Burns delivered judgment on 22 March 2021. The warrant, issued on 8 March 2019 by a judge of Belfast Magistrates’ Court, sought his return to serve a maximum remaining term of three years, 11 months and 13 days. The judgment records that he was sentenced in October 2013 to four years’ imprisonment and a further four years subject to release on licence. Northern Ireland authorities treated him as unlawfully at large after his licence was revoked in November 2016.
The warrant alleged that two masked men robbed a Boots pharmacy in Lisburn in October 2012, taking medicines and toiletries, and that a car was used to flee. It said Mr McGrath was found in the rear of the car with a black handgun, later described in the warrant as an imitation firearm. These were allegations set out in the warrant, not findings by the High Court about the underlying offences.
Mr McGrath’s counsel pursued objections concerning whether the conduct corresponded to offences under Irish law, whether the warrant gave sufficient detail and whether the sentence was immediately enforceable. The court found that the warrant, read as a whole, described conduct that would amount to corresponding offences in Ireland, including carrying an imitation firearm with intent to commit robbery and specified offences involving use of a vehicle without the owner’s consent. It was satisfied that the warrant contained sufficient detail and that the remaining sentence was currently enforceable, notwithstanding the possibility of review by Northern Ireland’s Parole Commissioners.
He also argued that surrender was barred because Northern Ireland authorities intended to prosecute him for common assault, an offence outside the warrant. The court noted prosecution authorities had stated an intention to proceed, but found no basis to conclude that the prosecution would breach the specialty protections in the European arrest warrant framework. It held that surrender was not prohibited under section 22, including because a prosecution could proceed without a measure restricting personal liberty, subject to the applicable rules.
Other objections—including arguments about human rights, custody credit and Covid-19 risk—were not pursued at the hearing. The judge said there was no evidence supporting those claims and was satisfied they did not prevent surrender. The court dismissed all objections and ordered surrender to the UK.