Ahmed v Public Prosecutor of Landshut Germany

Facts

Bashir Ahmed, a 55 year old British citizen who has lived in Great Britain since 1975 and has no recorded convictions or cautions in the UK, was sought on an accusation European Arrest Warrant issued by the Chief Public Prosecutor of Landshut, Bavaria. He is accused of two offences of fraud involving the hire of two premium cars, a BMW and an Audi each worth about €60,000, from Sixt and Avis at Munich airport in June 2013. He admits flying to Munich and hiring the cars for payment at a friend's request, and driving them to Hungary, Istanbul and finally Kurdistan in Iraq, where he says he was threatened, arrested at the airport for possession and use of a false passport, imprisoned for some four months and then acquitted. On his return, Avis contacted him and passed his account to the police or the Landshut prosecutor, which was investigating numerous fraudulent premium car hires at Munich airport. Before District Judge Grant it was conceded that no decision to charge and try had been made, so the argument turned on whether the requested person's absence from Germany was the sole reason. The District Judge ordered extradition on 28 September 2015, and Mr Ahmed appealed on section 12A of the Extradition Act 2003.