News

An England fan has lost his latest fight to avoid being extradited to Portugal to serve a jail term for his involvement in a riot during Euro 2004.
Appeal Court judge Lord Justice Moses said the High Court had no jurisdiction to intervene in the extradition of Garry Mann, 51, of Faversham, Kent.
But he granted his lawyers a stay of 14 days pending a further judicial review.
Mann was given a two-year sentence for his role in football-related violence in Albufeira in the Algarve.
He was deported after the case but not made to serve the sentence in the UK.
'Deprived of justice'
His lawyers claimed he underwent a fast-track procedure which produced an unfair trial.
Lord Justice Moses, sitting with Mr Justice Hickinbottom, said the apparent injustice did not stem from what Mann believed was an unfair and unlawful hearing.
He said he had been deprived of proper legal assistance "by two sets of lawyers in two separate jurisdictions on two distinct occasions".
Lord Justice Moses said he hoped the European Court of Human Rights would intervene or diplomatic authorities in the UK or Portugal could "strive to achieve some measure of justice for Mr Mann, a justice of which he has been so signally deprived by those on whom he had previously relied".
Mann's lawyers now have 14 days to appeal to the European Court or take the matter further in the English courts.
Outside the court, Mr Mann said: "I am bitterly disappointed with today's decision. My sovereign right to justice has been denied me, because of the rigid framework and the statutory powers of the Extradition Act which Parliament implemented and has refused to review.
"It is nearly six years on - six years of stress my family could have been spared."
Jago Russell, chief executive of Fair Trials International, said: "We will continue to fight against Garry's extradition which would be a travesty of justice and make a mockery of Europe's fast-track extradition system."
- BBC News
Curiosity plunged decorated firefighter Garry Mann into a European legal nightmare.
Mr Mann, 52, from Faversham, heard today that a decision on whether he will be extradited to Portugal to face a two year jail term has been deferred by the European Court of Human Rights.
Garry became public enemy number one after he was arrested for football violence in Portugal five years ago, yet in the late 1980s he was praised by then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for his charity work.
His defence is he was in a bar in Albufeira and was told there was a fight going between police and fans in the town centre; unwisely he went to look and was arrested hours later back at the bar.
In the Portuguese court, they trawled up two football-related convictions dating back to when he was 17. Yet there was no mention of his two commendations for bravery during major fires, or the charity marathon he took part in from Paris to London with colleagues in aid of the NSPCC.
Garry said: "The people who arrested me were Republican Guard military police. I had access to a defence lawyer who spoke broken English for three minutes and the woman interpreter was a hairdresser who had to go back to work half way through the hearing. They wouldn't listen to any of my witnesses. Both governments are making me a scapegoat for offences I never took part in."
He was given a fast tracked trial and told if he agreed to deportation he would not be jailed.
Faced with a possible year-long wait for a trial the father of six agreed. He was flown back to England under the glare of publicity and given a banning order barring him from watching England games abroad for a year.
He said: "I had half a plane to myself. I was handcuffed to an officer like I was a terrorist. Once I was on they let all these tourists on-it was weird. When I got back David Blunkett said he was going to nail me personally but he didn't bother to look into the background.
“As far as he was concerned I was a hooligan leader. I've become a political football kicked between England and Portugal."
He thought that was the end of it until August when two officers the Serious Organised Crime Authority turned up at his semi-detached home with an arrest warrant.
This week his appeal against extradition failed because his lawyers didn't place the case papers before the High Court in time.
During the long process he has been denied legal aid and had to retire after 31 years service with Kent Fire Brigade.
He said: "I can't get legal aid because my wife Suzanne works as a psychiatric nurse. I'm trying to get a job but I can't get one with this hanging over me. I was told at the time if I went back to Portugal within a year I would be jailed otherwise I would be fine.
"When the officers turned up I couldn't believe it."
Garry has written to David Milliband asking for help because consular officials suggested he should sign the paper.
He said: "We've tried to trace the consular official but he can't be found."
His lawyers have asked for a judicial review into SOCA's part in his arrest and the case may end up in Strasbourg.
At this week's hearing Lord Justice Moses said the High Court couldn't review the 2003 Extradition Treaty because his appeal arrived a day after the deadline.
But he was critical of the way Garry had been represented.
In his judgment he said: "I cannot leave this application without remarking upon the inability of this court to rectify what appears to be a serious injustice to Mr Mann.
"He had not been in trouble for 29 years, when he received a small fine for a minor offence. Now after a hearing condemned by a police officer as a 'farce' he faces two years in prison, over five years since his original conviction.
He wished, on two separate occasions, to exercise a right of appeal. Through no fault of his own his lawyers failed to act with the result he has never had the opportunity to advance his case that he is being denied a fair hearing.

"If this case had fallen within the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal, that court would have had little difficulty in ensuring that an appellant did not suffer from the incompetence of his former lawyers, but part one of the Extradition Act 2003 permits no such remedy against the failures of previous lawyers.

"I feel it necessary to mention these facts in the hope that either the Court of European Human Rights, or the diplomatic authorities in the United Kingdom or Portugal can strive to achieve some measure of justice for Mr Mann, a justice of which he has so signally been deprived by those on whom he relied."

- KENT News (2/2/10)