Judgment reserved on Wharrie extradition

THE High Court has reserved judgment in an application by the British authorities for the extradition of Englishman Perry Wharrie, who last July was jailed for 30 years for his role in a significant cocaine smuggling operation in Co Cork.

The extradition of London-born Wharrie, 50, with an address at Pyrles Lane, Loughton, Essex, is being sought for breaching conditions of his release on licence after serving a sentence imposed in relation to the armed robbery of a Securicor van at Barclay’s Bank at Hemel Hempstead on April 14, 1988, during which a police officer was shot dead.

The British authorities claim Wharrie was released on licence in April 2005 on conditions including that he remain in Britain unless he received permission from the authorities. They claim Wharrie left his home in Essex in 2007 without leaving a forwarding address.

At the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice Michael Peart said he was reserving his decision. The judge told the court he would give his judgment when the new legal term commences in January. Wharrie is opposing the making of the order.

Michael O’Higgins, SC for Wharrie, said his client objects to the order, saying that his rights would be breached because Britain’s sentencing system is both punitive and preventative, as opposed to the Irish system, which is punitive.

Counsel said that the extradition process reeked of an attempt to “close the file” and to “give neatness” to the case. There was no reality that the order could be enforced until 2025 at the earliest.

Counsel also argued that because Wharrie will be in jail until he will be in his early 70s, ordering for his extradition, which would be postponed many years, would be a breach of Wharrie’s rights.

He said that over the last 20 years the criminal justice systems in both Ireland and Britain has been “re-calibrated” in order to aid the States achieve more favourable results. Counsel said that nobody knows what changes will be made by 2025 or what safeguards will be in place to protect Wharrie’s rights.

Micheal Ó Higgins, SC for the State, argued that there is no impediment preventing the court from making an order for Wharries extradition. Counsel also said that the State would be seeking the postponement of any order for Wharrie’s surrender, until he had completed his prison sentence in Ireland.

In relation to the differences between Britain and Ireland’s sentencing system, counsel said that the Supreme Court has held that in order for the court to prohibit the making of an extradition order, a fundamental deficiency in the system of justice in a different State must be established.

Counsel said that there was no evidence of this in Britain’s sentencing system. Over 20 years ago Wharrie, with two other men, was convicted in connection with the shooting dead of off-duty police officer PC Frank Mason, 27, a former journalist, who had intervened during the armed robbery.

During a struggle, a single shot was fired by another party which killed PC Mason. In 1989, Wharrie was given a life sentence for the officer’s murder, as well as receiving a number of concurrent sentences for robbery and the firearms offences. He was freed on licence in 2005 having served 16 years.

In July, Wharrie and two other men received lengthy jail sentences for their involvement in an operation to smuggle €400 million worth of cocaine found floating in Dunlough Bay, Mizen Head, in July 2007.