The High Court has ordered Declan Derek Duffy’s surrender to the United Kingdom under a European Arrest Warrant, rejecting all his objections to the request. The order followed a hearing under section 16 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003; the judgment does not say that the surrender had taken place.
Duffy pleaded guilty to murder at Stafford Crown Court in 2010 and received a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 24 years. He was released on licence in 2013 under Northern Ireland’s 1998 Sentences Act. After his arrest in Dublin in December 2015 on suspicion of false imprisonment, he was charged with violent disorder and three counts of false imprisonment. The judgment says he was later convicted of serious offences in Ireland and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. In February 2016, the Northern Ireland Secretary of State suspended his licence and recalled him to prison. The Sentence Review Commissioners later revoked the licence after reviewing his case.
Duffy argued that his sentence was not immediately enforceable when the warrant issued, because his licence had been suspended but not yet revoked. The court relied on information from the issuing state that suspension meant he was detained under the life sentence pending review. It said Duffy had provided no evidence contradicting that account and dismissed the objection.
He also argued that the warrant did not make clear how much time he might have to serve or how release applications would work. The court said the sentence was clearly stated as life imprisonment with a minimum 24-year tariff, while release rules were for the issuing state to apply. It found no evidence of a fundamental defect in that system.
The court rejected his claims that release under the 1998 Act amounted to an amnesty or pardon, or that surrender would be oppressive, disproportionate or a form of double punishment. It said the life sentence remained in force and that recall concerned alleged breach of licence conditions, not punishment for the Irish offences a second time. It also rejected his argument that Brexit put his release rights under the Good Friday Agreement at real risk, calling the claim speculative on the evidence before it.
The court dismissed each point of objection and ordered Duffy’s surrender to a person authorised by the issuing state to receive him.