Northern Irish man loses latest challenge aimed at preventing extradition to UK

A man alleged to have delivered a trailer in which 39 migrants were found dead in Essex last year, has lost his latest challenge aimed at preventing his extradition to the United Kingdom.

Eamon Ronald Harrison (23) of Mayobridge, Co Down, is wanted by Essex police to face 39 counts of manslaughter and one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

It is alleged that Mr Harrison delivered the trailer, in which the bodies of 39 Vietnamese nationals were found in an industrial park in Grays, Essex on October 23rd last, to a Belgian port before its onward journey to Britain. The cargo was recorded as “biscuits” and the migrants died from a lack of oxygen between 8pm and 10pm after they had entered UK territorial waters. The temperature inside the unit rose to 38.5 degrees before it “steadily reduced”, and police discovered “bloody hand prints” inside.

The eight women and 31 men had arrived in England last October on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium. The youngest victims were two boys aged 15.

The High Court in Dublin ordered Mr Harrison’s extradition in January and the Court of Appeal upheld that decision on Friday.

Last May, lawyers for Mr Harrison told the Court of Appeal that the warrant seeking the arrest and surrender of the Northern Irish man was “wholly unsatisfactory”.

In a judgment delivered electronically on Friday, Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly said the details in the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), when read as a whole, gave sufficient information of the acts for which the appellant was sought, to permit the court to conclude that correspondence between offences could be established.

Ms Justice Donnelly said the High Court had conducted an appropriate assessment of the information and correctly concluded that all the conditions for surrender to the issuing State had been met. President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice John Edwards said they agreed with their colleague’s decision.

Dismissing the appeal, Ms Justice Donnelly said the order should not be perfected until 10 days have elapsed since the delivery of the judgment. The judge pointed out that should Mr Harrison want a stay on the order of surrender for the purpose of seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, then he should bring notice of his intention to do so within five days of the delivery of the judgment.

Ordering Mr Harrison’s extradition to the UK in January, Mr Justice Donald Binchy said the British-Irish citizen was alleged to have been involved in transporting illegal migrants on two previous occasions, and that the trailer at the centre of the Essex discovery was used on one of those occasions.