THE HIGH Court has ruled in favour of the extradition to Britain of Englishman Perry Wharrie, who is serving a 30-year jail term here for his role in a major cocaine smuggling operation in Co Cork.
The extradition order will be made after Wharrie has served his sentence. Mr Justice Michael Peart said there was no reason not to make an order for Wharrie’s extradition, but he postponed the matter until he had completed his sentence, imposed at Cork Circuit Court last July.
Wharrie, who was in court, had opposed his extradition.
The return of Wharrie (50), Pyrles Lane, Loughton, Essex, was sought for allegedly breaching conditions of his release on licence, having served a sentence over the armed robbery of a Securicor van at Hemel Hempstead on April 14th, 1988, during which a police officer was shot dead.
The British authorities claimed that Wharrie was released on licence in April 2005 on conditions including that he not leave Britain without permission.
In his judgment, Mr Justice Peart rejected all points of objection raised on behalf of Wharrie.
Wharrie had argued he had served the punitive part of the sentence he received in Britain, with the preventative element remaining. He submitted there was no preventative element to a life sentence in Irish law and his surrender would be unconstitutional.
Following an application yesterday from Micheál P O’Higgins SC, for the State, Mr Justice Peart agreed to make an order postponing the extradition order.
Wharrie was jailed last July over the smuggling of €400 million worth of cocaine found in Dunlough Bay on July 2nd, 2007.