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A bizarre front for the Tories’ campaign against Europe

Is Downing Street wobbling on the European Arrest Warrant?

Nigel Morris
Friday 24 October 2014 12:04 BST
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Tory whips have warned the Prime Minister that he could face a Tory revolt over the European arrest warrant
Tory whips have warned the Prime Minister that he could face a Tory revolt over the European arrest warrant

Ignas Judins persuaded two women in his native Latvia to join him for a weekend of shopping and sightseeing in London.

On arrival they were driven instead to a hotel in Derbyshire and subjected to a horrifying attack by three men who had paid Judins to trick the women to come to the UK.

The predators were jailed for human trafficking and sexual assault – and months later Judins was brought back from Latvia to join his accomplices behind British bars. He was forced to answer for his crimes after a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) was issued in this country, a device repeatedly used by Britain since its creation in 2004.

Hussain Osman was rapidly extradited from Italy over his part in the attempted 21 July London bombings of 2005 and subsequently jailed for 40 years. More recently, Jeremy Forrest, the teacher who eloped to France with his 15-year-old pupil, was swiftly picked up and returned after an EAW was issued.

The system – born out of frustration that criminals could easily escape prosecution by moving across Europe’s borders – has cut the average extradition period from a year to seven weeks.

Theresa May insists it is essential, to ensure terrorists, paedophiles and other serious criminals are taken out of circulation, and she has the powerful support of police chiefs.

But scores of Conservative MPs disagree vehemently and threaten a rebellion on the issue next month that will turn a fresh spotlight on their party’s enduring divisions over Europe.

On 1 December, the Coalition plans to “opt in” to the warrant and 34 other EU criminal justice measures. Before then Mrs May faces a perilous vote amid warnings that as many as 100 of her MPs could vote against the move.

To the warrant’s Tory critics, it is a cumbersome measure that often subverts justice by forcing Britons to stand trial abroad on flimsy or minor charges.

Among the cases they point to is the extradition to Greece of the holidaymaker Andrew Symeou on charges of manslaughter after the death of a man in a nightclub. Mr Symeou denied even being in the club at the time and was finally cleared after crucial witness statements were withdrawn.

Such prosecutions, the Tory critics claim, underline the problem of having a warrant system covering 28 widely differing jurisdictions including such countries as Greece and Poland.

“I genuinely think the media and political consensus that it is a good thing is fundamentally flawed when you burrow down and look at it,” says the Tory MP Dominic Raab, who insists the opponents are driven by practical arguments rather than dislike of Brussels.

Mrs May has sought to head off her critics by pushing through changes to ensure that UK nationals are only extradited on serious charges.

Tory Europhiles accuse the rebels of being motivated by ideology, with one former minister fuming: “They are mad. Whatever they say, they can’t bring themselves to vote for anything with the word ‘Europe’ in it.”

The campaign group Justice concedes the warrant system needs EU-wide reform, but says a British exit would mean “the prospect of harbouring fugitives from across the EU, which may lead to more crime here”. It adds: “We would also receive less assistance with requests for the return of people suspected or convicted of crime in this country.”

But such arguments are cutting little ice with the Tory rebels, and speculation is growing of a Downing Street wobble on the issue.

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