A Dublin businessman yesterday failed in the latest stage of his eight-year battle to prevent his extradition to the UK.
Judge Gerard Haughton ruled that Peter Bolger should be extradited after rejecting legal arguments about the case which arose out of his conviction in England in 1995 on fraudulent trading, theft and forgery charges.
That year, Bolger, Glendown Lawns, Templeogue, Dublin, was sentenced in his absence to three years' imprisonment after he had failed to return from a trip home to Ireland during the trial.
A year later, an attempt to extradite him to serve that sentence failed when the since-retired Judge Desmond Windle threw out the application from the Attorney General on grounds that the extradition warrants did not specify the location of the offences for which he was convicted.
In 1998, he was rearrested on 14 warrants in relation to the same charges and spent more than three years fighting the extradition, including taking a case to the Supreme Court seeking a legal bar on the re-initiation of the proceedings.
These legal challenges failed and the case was sent back to the Dublin District Court where Judge Haughton has heard evidence and lengthy legal submissions on whether Bolger's constitutional rights were violated.
Yesterday, Judge Haughton adjourned the formal order returning him to the custody of the London Metropolitan police to allow his lawyers prepare papers for a High Court appeal.
Bolger had claimed that his rights were not vindicated because his trial in England went ahead without regard for the fact that he was seriously ill on the day he failed to reappear.