Man faces retrial for 'murder' in Portugal

One to watch....

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/briton-faces-retrial-in-portugal-16133481.html

Briton faces retrial in Portugal

Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Graham Mitchell and wife Laura say their lives have been turned upside down by a request to extradite him to Portugal



A man facing extradition to Portugal for a crime he thought he was acquitted of 17 years ago has said his life has been "turned upside down".

Graham Mitchell, 49, is wanted to stand trial for the attempted murder of a German tourist in the Algarve in 1994.

Mr Mitchell and his friend Warren Tozer were originally arrested over an alleged assault on German Andre Jorling, who was left paralysed from the waist down after falling off a 12ft sea wall. They were cleared in 1995 in a high-profile trial in Portugal which was recorded by BBC's Panorama programme.

But Mr Mitchell, a photographer who lives in Canterbury, Kent, with his wife Laura and two children, was rearrested on March 6 by British police acting on a European arrest warrant in relation to the case. He told the BBC that he was held overnight at Wandsworth prison.

The former Scots guardsman said: "We are terrified, I'm terrified, my wife's terrified. Our life's been turned upside down and inside out. Nothing's the same. Every waking moment is a constant worry. It's getting back to like when it was when I first came back from Portugal - it's hell on earth."

He said he believed there had been an "administrative blunder" by the Portuguese police. British police told him he was wanted for "first-degree murder", although other paperwork refers to attempted murder and Mr Jorling is still alive, Mr Mitchell said.

Conservative MP Dominic Raab, a member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, said: "This is a double jeopardy case 18 years after the crime and they can't even get the charge right. How can you be accused of murder when the victim is still alive?"

He said there were a "whole range of problems" with the European arrest warrant and safeguards were needed. "The fundamental problem is that there is an assumption that all European justice systems are the same," he said.

Mr Mitchell appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on March 14 after being arrested by Kent Police. His next court appearance will be on March 28.

A Home Office spokesman said: "The Government is reviewing the UK's extradition arrangements to ensure they work efficiently and in the interests of justice. The European Arrest Warrant was considered as part of Sir Scott Baker's review and we will be responding to his recommendations shortly."

i hope this case doesnt stop portugal applying for one if needed in the mcanns case tapas too

He said he believed there had been an "administrative blunder" by the Portuguese police. British police told him he was wanted for "first-degree murder", although other paperwork refers to attempted murder and Mr Jorling is still alive, Mr Mitchell said

Blaming the Portuguese again? If its attempted murder then that is a very serious accusation and even if there has been an administrative blunder I would have thought this does not mean that he cannot be re-investigated. Attempted murder is every bit as bad - think of David Rathband's plight.

I remember this when it happened. This guy was apparantley so off his head on booze, he couldn't remember it.

fred wrote:I remember this when it happened. This guy was apparantley so off his head on booze, he couldn't remember it.

Ah, the great British drunk again. When people socialise over a bottle or two or three of something, there's no telling what it may lead to!

LJC wrote:

fred wrote:I remember this when it happened. This guy was apparantley so off his head on booze, he couldn't remember it.

Ah, the great British drunk again. When people socialise over a bottle or two or three of something, there's no telling what it may lead to!

Albufeira equals chav land, equals cheap booze equals big trouble