(1) R Ian Griffin (Claimant) City of Westminster Magistrates Court (Defendant) Tribunal de Grande Instance France (Interested Party) (2) Ian Griffin (Appellant) Tribunal de Grande Instance France (Respondent)
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Mr Justice Collins |
| Judgment Date | 20 April 2011 |
| Neutral Citation | [2011] EWHC 943 (Admin) |
| Docket Number | Case No: (1) CO/13111/2010,CO/13111/2010, CO/12664/2010 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
| Date | 20 April 2011 |
[2011] EWHC 943 (Admin)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Mr Justice Collins
Case No: (1) CO/13111/2010
(2) CO/12664/2010
Mr Matthew Butt (instructed by Messrsg Hallinan Blackburn Gittings & Nott) for the Claimant/Appellant
Mr Ben Watson (Instructed by Crown Prosecution Service) for the Interested Party/Respondent
Hearing dates: 29 March 2011
Judgement
On 3 December 2010 District Judge Daphne Wickham sitting at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court ordered the extradition of Mr Ian Griffin (whom I shall call the appellant) to France to face trial for murder. The claim challenges the refusal of the district judge to adjourn the hearing on 3 December and the appeal is against the decision to extradite. It was apparent that the claim was arguable and so I granted permission and dispensed with all procedural steps so that, with Mr Watson's consent, I could deal with the substantive judicial review claim. The appellant must of course pay the necessary fee resulting from the grant of permission.
The victim, a Polish lady called Kinga Legg who was at the material time the appellant's partner, was found dead in the bath in a room in the Bristol Hotel in Paris on the evening of 26 May 2009. She and the appellant had been staying in the hotel over the night of 23/24 May. They had had dinner in a restaurant in the evening of Saturday 23 May, but had quarrelled, both having consumed a considerable quantity of alcohol. He walked out and went back to the hotel, only to find, as he told a psychiatrist whose report is before the court that she was there, having taken a taxi. Their relationship had been turbulent which had, he said, affected his mental state. The stay in Paris was intended to be over night on the way to the two being married.
He claimed that he remembered nothing else that happened until he woke up the next morning to find her lying in bed. The room had been trashed and its contents broken. At first, he thought she was asleep, but he noticed blood around her mouth. He tried to wake her and put her into a hot bath and gave her mouth to mouth resuscitation. He realised that she was dead. He panicked and left. He left in his father's car but realised after a time that he could not drive safely and so he called his parents to collect him from France. He remembered little else. He was eventually found by the police in a tent in Cheshire on 1 June 2009.
His account is bizarre but it is obvious that there is a strong prima facie case that he was responsible for Kinga Legg's death. The EAW was issued on 29 May 2009. Following its execution on 1 June 2009 he was brought before the City of Westminster Magistrates Court and remanded in custody. He was found to be unfit to attend court due to his mental state and on 27 August 2009 was transferred to Langdon Hospital in Dawlish pursuant to section 48 of the Mental Health Act 2003 under the care of Dr Parker, a consultant forensic psychiatrist.
There was a perceived risk of self harm and of suicide. I shall have to refer to his report in more detail in due course, but Dr Parker's diagnosis was that he was suffering from a depressive illness. His condition was exacerbated by withdrawal from alcohol and benzodiazepine dependence. The claimant asserted that he was suffering from bipolar affective disorder or schizophrenia, but Dr Parker disagreed and found no evidence of psychosis.
On 2 February 2010 Dr Parker recommended that the claimant be transferred back to prison where he felt the risks of self harm and suicide would be properly managed. He was transferred to Wandsworth Prison on 12 March 2010 where he was in the care of the Mental Health Inreach Team. Dr Parker believed he was fit to attend court but he was refusing to engage with treatment which would ameliorate his distress. He tended to put on symptoms when he knew he was being observed and so it was not easy to know the true extent of his illness. But he was unlikely to improve so long as court proceedings were not brought to a conclusion.
When he knew he was to be transferred to Wandsworth, he stabbed himself with an electric toothbrush whose head he had removed. He was taken to hospital but the injury was not serious. On 21 April 2010 there was a far more serious episode of self harm when he inflicted a deep cut to his left wrist which severed the radial artery. This required his admission to hospital and surgery to the artery. It was said that this was a serious attempt to commit suicide.
The first report available antedated this episode. It was prepared by Professor Coid who was instructed by the appellant's solicitors and who saw the appellant on 29 June 2009 in Wandsworth prison. He noted that there were signs of self injury to his left wrist. The appellant denied then that he had suicidal ideas. He had a history of excessive drinking and misuse of amphetamines. Professor Cold concluded that when remanded to Wandsworth Prison, he was suffering from delirium tremens, withdrawal symptoms from benzodiazepines and a depressive illness. The delirium tremens was life threatening; it was believed that he might have been suffering from encephalitis but this proved not to be the case. Professor Cold's view was that he needed hospital treatment and to extradite him then would be oppressive. He recommended a transfer to hospital.
I have already referred to Dr Parker's reports. The appellant failed to co-operate with those treating him and made frequent complaints about lack of proper treatment. There were in Dr Parker's view elements of secondary gain, but it was not clear whether these resulted from a conscious decision by the appellant to feign or exaggerate symptoms or this represented extremely poor coping strategies in the context of significant stress. Certainly he showed tendencies to invoke sympathy from others to resolve his difficulties, but he chose to refuse to engage or co-operate with those who sought to treat his condition. In his prognosis, Dr Parker said this (paragraph 4.11):-
"it is clear in my opinion that in the absence of resolution of the court case his presentation is likely to remain the same. Delaying the court case will only serve to delay his recovery. Whilst he will find this difficult, it is something that needs to take place if his mental state is to improve. I would furthermore opine that treatment (whether pharmacological or psychosocial) is highly likely to improve his current presentation in the absence of court proceedings being concluded."
Following the episode of 21 April 2010, a number of reports were obtained. Dr Pamela Waters, a consultant and member of the Inreach Team at Wandsworth who had care of the appellant, noted that the episode occurred when the appellant was told that he was medically fit to attend court. She was very strongly of the view that the protracted nature of the legal proceedings was most definitely contributing to his psychological problems.' There was, she believed, a chronic ongoing risk of suicide which related more to his fear of being extradited to France rather than to any mental illness per se. She recognised that under stress such individuals as the appellant could, as she put it, 'utilise these acts of self harm to exert control over their environment'. It was necessary to evaluate his condition continually to ensure that he did not at some juncture become mentally ill.
The appellant's solicitors obtained a report from Dr Seneviratna. He concluded in his report dated 28 May 2010 that the appellant was suffering from an adjustment disorder with features of depression anxiety, anger, tension and worry. This had been the psychological reaction to the trauma of being arrested and remanded in custody on a charge of murder and grieving the loss of his comfortable life style, status and relationships. There was insufficient evidence to conclude that he was suffering from bipolar affective disorder, but it was possible one might, as he put it, be 'unmasked with time'. He regarded the episode as a serious and planned suicide attempt but the appellant did not acknowledge that his suicidal feelings, which he said he had all the time, might also relate to his psychological aversion to the prospect of being extradited. It was noted that previous episodes of self harm had occurred when under stress from particular crises in his life.
Dr Seneviratna thought that it was likely that the risk of further depressive episodes and self-destructive and suicidal behaviour would escalate further when the appellant was extradited to France. He thought the extradition hearing should be adjourned for 3 months if the appellant demonstrated a willingness to participate in and did participate in a therapeutic programme. The appellant did not.
The Crown Prosecution Service obtained a report from Dr Joseph who saw the appellant on 12 July 2010. He saw all the previous reports and the inmate record in the prison. The appellant told Dr Joseph that he had not been treated properly in Devon and that he had made numerous attempts at suicide by putting a plastic bag over his head and taking a quantity of sleeping tablets which he had saved up, by trying to drown himself in his bath and by drinking his urine because he had 'been told it is toxic'. What credence can be attached to this account is difficult to assess. I suspect very little.
Dr Joseph asked the claimant about his understanding of the extradition proceedings. He said that he would rather go to France and get better care there....
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