Campaign fights to keep EU cross-border crime powers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2013/jan/20/campaign-keep-eu-cross-border-crime-powers

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A housewife courted by David Cameron following her campaign for justice for her son, who was left brain damaged after an assault in Greece, has turned on the prime minister over his European agenda. Maggie Hughes is set to be the public face of a campaign against the Tory plan to opt out of EU cross-border and crime measures.

Her son Robbie, a former semi-professional footballer for Oxford United, was left on the brink of death in 2008 after being subject to a brutal gang attack by British men while on holiday in Crete. He was left in a coma, endured four brain operations, lost his sense of smell and taste and, to this day, has no memory of his family or friends.

His assailants, four of whom were convicted and sentenced to four years in November, were only brought to justice through the European arrest warrant (EAW) which delivered them to a Cretan court.

Campaigners are concerned by the government's intention to opt out of 130 EU police and justice measures, including the EAW, as part of its repatriation of powers. The home secretary Theresa May, in particular, wants to pursue that agenda, citing how Britons can currently be extradited for trial abroad without evidence being heard in British courts.

In response, Maggie Hughes will help launch the new Justice Across Borders campaign group next week with former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy and former Labour home secretary Charles Clarke.

Hughes, 59, from Wallington, in south London, said she had been impressed by Cameron in opposition, but could not now understand his position on the EU. She said: "It seems that the interests of victims of crime are being lost here. David Cameron asked to see me before he was prime minister and he seemed sincere. But he appears to have no idea, and I'm sorry to say that.

"We all sit around the table at the EU. If there are problems with the European arrest warrant why can't we tweak it, make it better, rather than getting rid of the whole thing. Without the warrant what do we have?

"I think if you ask anyone within the British police they would say the same. When the people who attacked my son were asked to go back to Crete by the courts they refused, saying it was a barbaric country. It wasn't barbaric when they wanted to lie on its beaches. The European arrest warrant ensured they faced justice over there."

Charles Kennedy told the <em>Observer</em>: "Real justice has to be respected across borders. The European arrest warrant matters – both symbolically and practically. The UK played a significant role in its promotion; it would be terrible if we are now instruments in its dismantling."

The lead officer on extradition and mutual legal assistance at the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), Allan Gibson, will also attend the launch of Justice Across Borders on Wednesday at the Commons in a sign of serious worries within the police.

In evidence submitted to a Lords inquiry into the government plans, Acpo noted that in the last year prior to the introduction of the EAW, 2003, the UK received a total of 114 extradition requests worldwide and surrendered 55 individuals. In the same year, the UK had made 87 extradition requests to other countries across the globe and 64 people were returned.

In 2010/11, by contrast, the UK received 5,382 EAW requests and surrendered 1,149 individuals, 7% of whom were UK nationals, the other 93% being fugitives to the UK. The UK in turn made 221 EAW requests to other EU states, and had 93 people surrendered to it.

Acpo said those trends reflected the "increasing international patterns of crime and offending" and the need for "increasing flexibility on the part of European law enforcement and criminal justice agencies."

Thais Portilho-Shrimpton, a director of Justice Across Borders, said: "If the Conservative eurosceptic backbenchers succeed in pushing the UK to abandon this co-operation with the EU for good, victims like Maggie's son, Rob, will find it much harder to get justice."