Sinclair v DPP
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 11 April 1991 |
| Date | 11 April 1991 |
| Court | House of Lords |
House of Lords
Before Lord Bridge of Harwich, Lord Templeman, Lord Griffiths, Lord Ackner and Lord Goff of Chieveley
Extradition - abuse of process - magistrates' jurisdiction
In extradition proceedings under the Extradition Act 1870 magistrates had no jurisdiction to decide (a) whether there had been an abuse of the process of the court or (b) whether the requirements of the particular extradition treaty had been satisfied.
The word "prosecution" as used in article V(1)(b) of the Extradition Treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States of America contained in Schedule 1 to the United States of America (Extradition) Order (SI 1976 No 2144) meant that a prosecution ended when the sentence was pronounced. Thus, where sentence had been passed against a fugitive criminal, the bar by lapse of time contained in the article did not apply.
The House of Lords so held dismissing an appeal by the applicant, Mr Phillipe Andre Sinclair, against the respondents, the Director of Public Prosecutions on behalf of the Government of the United States of America and the Governor of Pentonville Prison, from the dismissal on February 19, 1990, by the Queen's Bench Divisional Court (Lord Justice Watkins and Mr Justice Nolan) (The Times February 23, 1990; [1990] 2 QB 112) of Mr Sinclair's application for a writ of habeas corpus ad subjiciendum.
Mr Timothy Cassel, QC and Ronald Jaffa for Mr Sinclair; Mr R Alun Jones, QC and Mr Philip Singer for the respondents.
LORD ACKNER said that Mr Sinclair, a national of Trinidad, was convicted of four offences in the United States in 1976 and was sentenced to concurrent terms of four years imprisonment in April 1977. He was to report to the Attorney-general on March 6, 1978 so as to begin to serve his sentence. In February 1978 he went to Trinidad and did not return to the United States.
On April 29, 1978, a bench warrant was issued in the United States but no efforts to secure his return were made. Until 1983 Mr Sinclair remained in Trinidad and then came to England. In September 1983 the United States Department of Justice decided to seek Mr Sinclair's extradition.
The department made a formal request for extradition to the United Kingdom Government in 1987. On February 5, 1988, Mr Sinclair was arrested and brought before the Bow Street Stipendiary Magistrate.
The magistrate, in a very short...
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