R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Patel
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 30 June 1995 |
| Date | 30 June 1995 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division |
Queen's Bench Divisional Court
Before Lord Justice Henry and Mr Justice Mitchell
Extradition - delay by foreign government - minister's error in agreeing to extradite
The Minister of State at the Home Department had erred in agreeing to extradite a man to the United States for offences allegedly committed between nine and twelve years earlier where the United States government was responsible for much of the delay in bringing the application for extradition.
Under the circumstances the minister should not have left it to the United States court to decide whether the delay was such that the trial would be unjust and oppressive.
The Queen's Bench Divisional Court so held dismissing an application for habeas corpus, but allowing an application for judicial review by Harshad Jashbhai Patel of the secretary of state's decision in January 1993 to order his extradition to the United States.
Mr Lionel Swift, QC and Mr Donald Cryan for the applicant; Miss Clare Montgomery for the secretary of state and the Governor of Brixton Prison; Mr Paul Garlick for the government of the United States.
LORD JUSTICE HENRY, giving the judgment of the court, said the charges against the applicant, of theft from his employer, were serious, although not of the first level of seriousness. They had been committed between nine and twelve years previously and the offences had come to light for the most part in 1983 and 1984.
The trial would depend on conflicting oral accounts of the applicant's terms of engagement. The applicant had not been culpably responsible for the delay but...
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