The High Court has ordered Anthony John Hill’s surrender to the United Kingdom, where he is sought for prosecution over an allegation that he tried to pervert the course of justice by sending DVDs to a jury foreman and trial judge.
In a judgment delivered on 3 April 2009, Mr Justice Michael Peart rejected Hill’s objections to surrender under a European arrest warrant. He did not determine whether Hill committed the alleged offence. The court’s role was to decide whether surrender was prohibited under the applicable law.
The warrant alleged that two packages containing a DVD were posted from Ireland to the foreman and presiding judge at Kingston Crown Court during a trial linked to the 7 July 2005 London bombings. The warrant said the video claimed that the UK government and security services had caused the explosions and that the bombers were innocent. It also said forensic examination found Hill’s fingerprints on the packages. The judge accepted the warrant’s description of the video, which was not disputed by evidence from Hill, but did not view it, saying that doing so could risk entering into the merits of the prosecution.
Hill’s counsel argued that surrender would interfere with his rights to freedom of thought, expression and religion because the DVD expressed his belief that the accused were innocent. The judge rejected the objection, ruling that freedom of expression did not protect communications intended to influence a judge or jury in a trial.
The defence also argued that the alleged conduct took place outside the UK and that correspondence with an offence in Ireland had not been established, particularly because the packages were intercepted before reaching their intended recipients. The judge found that the offence of perverting the course of justice existed at common law in Ireland and that the intended effect on the trial in the UK was sufficient for the offence to correspond here. He also concluded that the alleged offence was not barred from surrender by section 44 of the European Arrest Warrant Act.
The court ordered Hill’s surrender to the UK authorities. Separately, the judge said he had received seven unopened packages after the hearing, some apparently containing DVDs and marked as relating to the case. He passed them to the authorities and said it was for An Garda Síochána and/or the Director of Public Prosecutions to decide whether any further action should follow.