Actil v. Tribunal de Grand Instance

Facts

The appellant, Roderick Actil, a British national living in England, was the subject of a conviction European Arrest Warrant issued by the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris and dated 14 September 2017. The warrant followed a five-day trial in Paris in June 2017 of nine defendants concerning large-scale importations of cocaine from the Dominican Republic into France and its onward distribution, including to Great Britain. All nine were convicted, with sentences ranging from seven years' to 30 months' imprisonment; the appellant, who did not attend and was tried in his absence, received five years. The French authorities confirmed he could request a complete retrial with a right of appeal if extradited. He was arrested on 11 March 2020 and remanded in custody throughout. Before District Judge Paul Goldspring at Westminster Magistrates' Court his central objection was that the warrant lacked "particulars of the conviction" as required by section 2 of the Extradition Act 2003; the district judge, having sought further information and received the French court's correctional judgment of 3 July 2017, held he had no doubt the conduct was confined to taking possession of five kilograms of cocaine in Paris and driving it to the United Kingdom, and ordered extradition on 27 November 2020. Further information from the French prosecutor, dated 30 September 2021, was obtained after that order, and the appellant appealed.