District Judge Heptonstall sitting at Westminster Magistrates’ Court discharged Mr WS, a 24-year-old Polish national residing in The Netherlands who was arrested on a Polish arrest warrant while visiting a relative in the UK with his young family.
The extradition request alleged that WS damaged a car by throwing a stone and threatened to kill a person back in 2016, when he was only 17. WS challenged the extradition request on multiple grounds. The Polish judicial authority did not provide any Further Information in response to these challenges and the court refused to adjourn the extradition hearing to allow more time for this information to be obtained. The proceedings against Mr WS were on a fast track because his leave to remain in the UK as a visitor was limited and because he needed to return home as soon as possible to continue to provide for his family, who were now stuck with him in the UK.
In an ex-tempore judgement, District Judge Heptonstall found that the request for extradition as a whole was disproportionate because, given that WS was a child at the time of the allegations, it was unlikely he would receive a prison sentence if convicted; that dual criminality was not made out in relation to the offence of threats to kill and that extradition was a disproportionate interference with his private and family life rights under Article 8 of the ECHR.
Mr WS was represented by Tihomir Mak of 9BR Chambers’ extradition and international team. Tihomir was instructed by Mr Frank Brazell of Sperrin Law.
