Thomas Joseph O'Connor remanded on bail in extradition proceedings

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Thomas Joseph O'Connor was remanded on continuing bail at the High Court on 4 July 2017 while seeking to reopen extradition proceedings over a £5 million UK tax fraud. The hearing was due to continue before Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly the following day.

O'Connor had been convicted following a six-week trial at Blackfriars Crown Court. In January 2007, he was sentenced in his absence to four-and-a-half years in prison for defrauding the British revenue. He had been on bail but did not attend the sentencing hearing. He returned to Ireland and was arrested on an extradition warrant in 2009.

The High Court ordered his extradition. The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal in October 2015, and he lost a further appeal to the Supreme Court in March 2017. In April, his lawyers applied to postpone his surrender on humanitarian grounds because his brother was terminally ill and receiving palliative care. Ms Justice Donnelly granted the application.

At the July hearing, O'Connor's barrister, Dr Michael Forde SC, argued that Brexit entitled his client to a fresh hearing and left him in legal limbo about his rights after the UK left the EU. Counsel for the Minister for Justice and Equality, Mr Robert Barron SC, said the outcome of Brexit was unknown and there was no evidence that O'Connor would lose fundamental rights.