High Court rules prison wrongly denied Hoogstraten access to lawyer

The jailed property tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten won a High Court ruling yesterday that he was wrongly denied permission to see an Italian lawyer who previously represented the Serbian warlord Arkan.

Hoogstraten wants to take advice from Giovanni di Stefano but has been refused permission by Belmarsh prison, south-east London, where he is waiting to be sentenced for manslaughter.

Mr di Stefano first visited him on 16 August but Geoffrey Hughes, the prison governor, ordered the visits to be stopped.

Mr Justice Jackson ruled that European Union law granted Hoogstraten the right to seek advice from a Rome-based lawyer. Lawyers for the prison indicated Mr Hughes might still try to block Mr di Stefano's access to Hoogstraten on the grounds of "character and antecedents".

Mr Newman, for Hoogstraten, told the court a variety of reasons had been given for stopping the visits. He said the first was related to a newspaper report claiming the tycoon was negotiating with Zimbabwe's President, Robert Mugabe, to buy Russian fighter jets, in which Mr di Stefano was quoted as speaking on Hoogstraten's behalf. Mr Newman said the prison was no longer relying on the argument, which he described as bizarre. The prison had also abandoned an argument that Mr di Stefano was wanted on an international warrant, he added.

Hoogstraten was found guilty of hiring two hitmen to kill a former business partner, Mohammed Sabir Raja. Mr di Stefano began his working life as a waiter at the Savoy Hotel before making a fortune importing video tapes. He was sentenced to three years for fraud in the 1980s, but the Court of Appeal later overturned his conviction. He was guest of honour at the wedding of Arkan, who was shot dead two years ago.