A CO LOUTH man wanted in Spain, where he was sentenced to two years in jail for the killing of his wife, has appeared before the High Court.
Michael Dermot McArdle is wanted in Spain so that he can serve the two-year sentence he received for the manslaughter of his wife Kelly Anne Corcoran. He was due to hand himself in to the Spanish authorities last September but failed to do so.
The mother-of-two died from injuries sustained when she fell from a hotel balcony while on a family holiday in Marbella on the Costa Del Sol in February 2000.
At the High Court on Saturday, Mr Justice Barry White remanded McArdle (41) in custody, with consent to bail, on foot of a European Arrest Warrant seeking his surrender to Spain. The court also heard that the State was consenting to bail being granted.
Mr Justice White was informed that McArdle, of Brookfield, Heynestown, Dundalk, was arrested on Saturday on foot of a warrant issued by a Spanish judge that was subsequently endorsed by the High Court in Dublin last Friday.
Det Sgt Jim Kirwan, of the Garda extradition unit, told the court that McArdle was arrested on Saturday afternoon. When gardaí called to a house McArdle was not present, but he was contacted by phone.
McArdle arranged to meet gardaí at Dundalk Garda station within an hour of that phone conversation.
Sgt Kirwan said after being asked if he knew what the warrant was about, McArdle replied: “There is a Supreme Court appeal pending and I have the documents to prove it. This is why I have not surrendered myself.”
McArdle did not speak during the brief hearing.
His counsel, Mark Lynam, told the court that his client, who was supporting his two teenage children, was out of work since December 2008, and was on social welfare of €253 per week.
Counsel said his client intended to take up bail and given his client’s circumstances, would be applying for legal aid under the attorney general scheme. Mr Justice White agreed to remand McArdle in custody with consent to bail.
The terms of the bail include that he pay his own bond of €150, plus an independent surety of €20,000, €5,000 of which must be a cash lodgement.
In addition to these terms, McArdle must reside at his home address, surrender his passport and not apply for any new travel documents, sign on daily at Dundalk Garda station and be of good behaviour.
The judge, who informed McArdle of his rights to consent to his surrender and to legal representation, added that McArdle was to appear before the High Court on Wednesday, February 9th.
In the warrant seeking his surrender, the court heard that McArdle had been convicted of his wife’s manslaughter at a court in Malaga in October 2008.
His wife died two days after falling from the balcony of room 421 of Marbella’s five-star Melia Don Pepe Hotel following an argument with her husband.
He was jailed for two years and ordered to pay his two sons by Ms Corcoran, Mark and Paul, €60,000 each for the loss of their mother. He was also ordered to pay her parents, Ted and Bridie, €100,000.
After several failed appeals, it is claimed that McArdle had been due to hand himself in to the Spanish authorities by September 15th last year to begin his jail term but failed to do so.