Father’s Extradition to Spain Refused for Second Time Amid Serious Welfare Concerns – June 2025
In a rare and hard-fought legal victory, extradition specialist Mary Westcott successfully blocked Spain’s second attempt to extradite a vulnerable father of a two-year-old child. District Judge (MC) Leake ruled on 4 June 2025 that extradition must again be refused as it would breach Article 8 ECHR, citing the severe impact on the man’s mental health and family life.
The case centred on a 10-month prison sentence imposed in Spain for a 2018 offence of taking a vehicle without consent. Despite the same Judge ordering extradition in 2003 for an unrelated robbery conviction, the father (‘M’) completed his sentence in the UK so successfully appealed that case. Instead of being released in May 2024, he was unexpectedly “gate arrested” under a new Spanish extradition request filed at the last minute. Notably, in the earlier proceedings, the Spanish authorities had denied the existence of any further outstanding extradition orders.
Mary Westcott, who led M’s legal defence throughout both proceedings, brought expert medical evidence showing that M had been severely traumatised by abuse while imprisoned in Spain. He suffers from PTSD, cognitive impairment, and depression. His young son, who also has developmental delays, is entirely dependent on him for daily care (M’s partner works full time).
The Judge accepted that extradition would cause disproportionate harm—not only to M, but also to his son and partner, who would be forced to give up her job to care for the child. The Judge also acknowledged M’s delusional but genuine belief that his electronic bail tag was communicating with him, making bail conditions unusually distressing, so contributing to the overall Article 8 conclusion against extradition in this case.
Despite being labelled a fugitive, M was ultimately spared forced return to Spanish prison, where he said he was beaten and raped. The Judge declined to rule on a related abuse of process argument stemming from the misleading information provided by Spanish authorities and M’s harsh gate arrest.
The extradition proceedings ran from November 2024 to February 2025, with judgment handed down at the seventh listing in June. No appeal was filed—making the decision final.
Mary Westcott acted throughout, instructed by GT Stewart (Ruta Mikailaite and Ana Derham), and previously by Gitana Megvine of Taylor Rose.
