Purcell v High Court in Dublin Ireland
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Laws,Mr Justice Silber |
| Judgment Date | 04 October 2012 |
| Neutral Citation | [2012] EWHC 3325 (Admin) |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
| Docket Number | CO/7302/2012 |
| Date | 04 October 2012 |
[2012] EWHC 3325 (Admin)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
DIVISIONAL COURT
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London WC2A 2LL
Lord Justice Laws
Mr Justice Silber
CO/7302/2012
Mr J Atlee (instructed by Atlee Chung & Co Solicitors) appeared on behalf of the Appellant
Mr N Hearn (instructed by the Crown Prosecution Service) appeared on behalf of the Respondent
This is an appeal under section 20 of the Extradition Act 2003 against the order of District Judge Purdy, made in the Westminster Magistrates' Court on 6 July 2012, for the appellant's extradition to the Republic of Ireland for an offence of assisting an offender/impeding apprehension contrary to section 7(2) of the Criminal Law Act 1977. Very full details of the allegation are given in the European Arrest Warrant issued out of the High Court in Dublin on 9 November 2011 and certified by the Serious Organised Crime Agency on 30 November 2011. District Judge Purdy provided this summary in the first paragraph of his judgment:
"In essence Gillian Purcell is said to have assisted John Walsh conceal the body of one John McManus who went missing from his Cork City address on or about 30/10/08, his body was found in a lay by near Lady's View, Ballyduff, County Cork in November 2008 very near where Gillian Purcell and John Walsh were stopped in a car by a police officer on 5th November 2008, she giving a false name, a blood spotted shovel and clothing containing bloodstains from John McManus were recovered from the boot. The home address in Cork showed signs of 'a serious assault' including blood and teeth from the deceased. 'A post mortem indicated that he died as a result of a severe physical assault.' The prosecution case is of Gillian Purcell and John Walsh being present in the home at the time of the violent assault and of moving the body on 6th November 2008; evidenced by the stopping of their car, initially not having a test certificate, and the blood and parties in the car so close to the location of the body."
Both the appellant and the man John Walsh had been prosecuted for the murder of John McManus. Walsh was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. The murder charge against the appellant was withdrawn from the jury by direction of the judge at the Central Criminal Court on 1 December 2010. The appellant had not at that time been charged with the offence for which her extradition is now sought or any other offence relating to the death of John McManus. She was released from custody. She gave evidence before the district judge in the extradition proceedings that she was assaulted and threatened by family members and associates of the dead man, and in consequence fled to England. At length she was arrested in the United Kingdom and produced at the Magistrates' Court on the same day as the EAW had been certified by SOCA, that is 30 November 2011.
The initial hearing under the Extradition Act was convened on 20 December 2011 and adjourned to 17 January 2012. There was a full hearing before District Judge Purdy on 7 June 2012, adjourned part heard to 12 June. District Judge Purdy gave judgment on 6 July 2012. The appellant's case was refined in the course of its passage through the Magistrates' Court so that at length the district judge had to deal with two issues only: one, whether the extradition proceedings were an abuse of the court's process, on the footing that if the Irish authorities desired to prosecute the appellant for concealing the dead man's body, that accusation should have been brought forward at the same time as the murder charge and tried alongside it; two, whether the appellant should be discharged pursuant to section 21 of the Extradition Act because her extradition to Ireland would constitute a...
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Douglas Belbin v Lille Court of First Instance, France
...of the United States [2006] EWHC 3033 (Admin), Mitchell v High Court of Boulogne Sur Mer [2007] EWHC 2006 (Admin), Purcell v High Court in Dublin, Ireland [2012] EWHC 3325 and Zdinjak v Republic of Croatia [2012] EWHC 1554 (Admin). The principles are clear. The comparison exercise 10 This a......