Jalena Palioniene v Prosecutor General's Office, Lithuania

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
JudgeMr Justice Dingemans
Judgment Date02 August 2019
Neutral Citation[2019] EWHC 2096 (Admin)
Date02 August 2019
CourtQueen's Bench Division (Administrative Court)
Docket NumberCase No: CO/3903/2018

[2019] EWHC 2096 (Admin)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE

QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION

ADMINISTRATIVE COURT

Royal Courts of Justice

Strand, London, WC2A 2LL

Before:

Mr Justice Dingemans

Case No: CO/3903/2018

Between:
Jalena Palioniene
Appellant
and
Prosecutor General's Office, Lithuania
Respondent

Malcolm Hawkes (instructed by GBJ Crime) for the Appellant

Hannah Hinton (instructed by Crown Prosecution Service) for the Respondent

Hearing date: 23 July 2019

Approved Judgment

Mr Justice Dingemans

Introduction

1

The Appellant, Jelena Palioniene (“Ms Palioniene”), appealed against the decision of District Judge (Magistrates' Court) Rebecca Crane (“the Judge”) dated 1 October 2018 to order Ms Palioniene's extradition to Lithuania.

2

Ms Palioniene appealed on the ground, among other grounds, that extradition would infringe her rights protected by article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”). Ms Palioniene relied in particular on the fact that she is the sole carer for her son who was born in June 2017. The Prosecutor General's Office contended that extradition was a permissible interference with Ms Palioniene's article 8 ECHR rights, relying on the facts that one of the offences involved a supply of heroin to prison and that Ms Palioniene deliberately left Lithuania in breach of her bail conditions and was a fugitive.

The judgment dated 12 April 2019

3

For the detailed reasons set out in a judgment dated 12 April 2019 [2019] EWHC 944 (Admin), I found, among other matters, that the Judge was right to find that the offending was serious, and that the finding that Ms Palioniene was a fugitive was properly made. I found that the Judge's analysis of the evidence and materials before the court had been correct so far as it went but that the evidence showed that the best interests of Ms Palioniene's son were served by remaining with her, and that in order to discharge the obligations of the court to determine whether the public interest in extradition could be met without causing serious harm to Ms Palioniene's son, the Judge should have sought assurances about whether Ms Palioniene's son could be held with her in pre-trial detention or if not whether the pre-trial detention could be restricted to a period of 6 months. I therefore directed that Lithuania should be given a period of 42 days to provide such assurances as they think fit, and after expiry of that period the parties will have an opportunity to make further submissions in relation to the article 8 ECHR issue. I had given Lithuania an opportunity, if it considered it appropriate, to provide an assurance: (1) that Ms Palioniene will not be held in detention before any trial; or (2) that Ms Palioniene can be held in detention pre-trial with her son; or (3) that Ms Palioniene will not be held in pre-trial detention without her son for a period longer than 6 months. I noted that it would be for Lithuania to decide whether to give any assurance and that I would allow a period of 42 days from the signing of the order consequential on this judgment for any assurance to be provided. I made provision for the parties to make short further written submissions in relation to any assurance which was provided.

Relevant factual background from the first judgment

4

The relevant factual background was set out in my first judgment dated 12 April 2019 and I have therefore only set out some of the material facts in this judgment. The extradition offences related to heroin. The first offence alleged that on a date no later than 18 June 2012 Ms Palioniene put 0.025g of heroin under a postage stamp on an envelope which was sent to a prisoner in Marijampole prison. The second and third offences related to 5 November 2012. Ms Palioniene was alleged to have purchased a white powder from a named person which was “not less than 1.2106g of powder containing 0.230g of heroin” of which she consumed part and sold part to others and “the remaining quantity – not less than 1.2106 g containing 0.230g of heroin was given” to Tatjana Rungo.

5

Ms Palioniene was in detention from 6 to 8 November 2012 and she was served with the notification of suspicion on 7 November 2012 and 23 October 2013. Ms Palioniene was interviewed on 7 and 8 November 2012 and 25 October 2013 by the pre-trial officer or Judge.

6

Ms Palioniene worked after her arrival in the UK. She formed a relationship with Mr Beker and became pregnant with her son and was on maternity leave. Her son was born in the summer of 2017. Ms Palioniene is now on universal credit. She is a single parent who is not in a relationship. Mr Beker had been removed from the United Kingdom and was abroad but it appears from the latest information from the social services that he has returned to the United Kingdom.

7

Ms Palioniene has previous convictions in Lithuania for theft and possession and supply of drugs on dates between June 2005 and July 2007. Ms Palioniene has convictions in the UK for 9 offences of shoplifting and an offence of going equipped for theft committed between October 2014 and April 2016. Ms Palioniene was convicted in December 2017 of failing to comply with a community order which was then revoked.

8

Ms Palioniene gave evidence at the extradition hearing denying any involvement with the EAW offences. Ms Palioniene also gave evidence that she had made admissions to the offences in Lithuania only because she had been beaten when she was being interviewed and because threats had been made that her sister would become involved in criminal proceedings. When asked if that had had any influence on her decision to leave the country Ms Palioniene replied “immediately, I left immediately but it also had an impact on my decision, there was [no] jobs in Lithuania”.

9

There was a welfare report to the Court from West Sussex County Council produced pursuant to section 7 of the Children Act 1989. This shows that social services had become involved because of earlier concerns in relation to Ms Palioniene's accommodation and Mr Beker's arrest on drugs charges. Mr Beker was in custody for part of the period and removed to Poland. Ms Palioniene had appeared to care well for her son. She had never appeared to be under the influence of drugs when seeing social services. There were some matters which social services wanted to question Ms Palioniene about, relating to a man who stayed for a while and disappeared, the relationship with the partner of a friend, and why Ms Palioniene had refused assistance with housing, but it was noted that there may be innocuous answers to those questions.

10

Social Services considered that the accommodation for Ms Palioniene and her son was far from ideal. However her son had consistently presented as well cared for and having a warm and trusting relationship with his mother. Her son was gaining a strong sense of identity and was achieving many of his milestones. It was felt that removing her son would cause him significant harm, and the level of distress would inevitably affect his development in many ways. The local authority was obtaining legal advice about its responsibilities to care for Ms Palioniene's son but if Lithuania had responsibility the relevant local authority would take the son into care until negotiations with Lithuania had concluded. If the local authority had responsibility her son would be placed in long term foster care. The report noted the difficulties with either Mr Beker or Ms Palioniene exercising parental responsibility for their son from Lithuania. It was noted that negotiations about the son's care were likely to be difficult and protracted which was likely to affect the son. The report noted “either way he will become a looked after child (LAC) and be cared for and protected by the LAC protocols of the county”.

The assurance from Lithuania

11

Lithuania did provide an assurance after the first judgment. It was in the following terms: “in the view that [Ms Palioniene] is a single mother and raises a minor child … also in the view of the child's interests, the judge grants one of the assurances that could be granted based on the valid laws of the Republic of Lithuania, i.e. if the courts finds that there are grounds and conditions set forth in the law for imposing detention on [Ms Palioniene] and if the court makes a decision to impose a coercive measure – detention on [Ms Palioniene], then the detention will be applied to her not longer than for the period of six months”.

Written submissions and application to adduce further evidence

12

The parties put in further written submissions and a witness statement in the form of a letter from Dr Tom Grange, a clinical psychologist, dated 24 May 2019 and verified by a statement of truth was adduced on behalf of Ms Palioniene.

13

A written application was made to obtain expert evidence from a child psychologist on behalf of Ms Palioniene to give evidence of the particularly close bond between Ms Palioniene and her child and the effect of separation of up to 6 months. By an order dated 10 July 2019 I refused the application because the issue of Ms Palioniene's rights under article 8 of the ECHR and the best interests of her son were issues before the Court in the hearing on 28 March 2019 and the issues were addressed without a child psychologist report. The provision of the assurances had not raised new issues for the expert to address and the decided cases showed that the removal of a care giver would be devastating for young children. I did record that if Ms Palioniene wished to rely on any further materials from Social Services an application to adduce those materials should be made in the usual way.

14

Ms Palioniene obtained a letter from Social Services dated 17 July 2019 and a further witness statement from Ms Palioniene. Further written submissions were put in on behalf of Ms Palioniene seeking to rely on the fresh evidence of the letter and...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT