Scot accused of US murder loses his extradition battle
A SCOT wanted for murder is facing life in a US prison after losing his lengthy legal battle against extradition.
Phillip Harkins has been fighting being sent overseas to answer the charge since 2003, in what has been described as the longest-running case of its kind in Britain.
The 38-year-old argued his extradition would violate articles three and six of the European Convention on Human Rights, relating to inhuman or degrading treatment and right to a fair trial.
His lawyers said that if convicted of first-degree murder in Florida he could face a mandatory sentence of life in jail without parole, or the death penalty.
But in a ruling yesterday, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg rejected his final appeal.
Harkins, who moved to America as a teenager, is expected to be flown back there within weeks from the UK, where he has been held since 2006 after being released from an unrelated jail term.
The family of alleged victim Joshua Hayes, 22, have welcomed the news, but criticised the justice system for allowing the case to be dragged out.
Mr Hayes’s mother Patricia Gallagher told BBC News: ‘I really don’t understand how he was ever allowed to file that many appeals. That’s way too many and he said he’s a victim, and he’s not.’
She said her son’s death had been ‘real rough’ on her grandchildren, who had been brought up without a father, adding: ‘My Josh has two grandchildren that will never get to know him.
‘We keep Josh very much alive here. He’ll always be carried in my heart and my head.’
Harkins, from Greenock, Renfrewshire, was indicted for murder after Mr Hayes was killed by a gunshot wound to the head during a robbery in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1999.
A warrant from the US Department of Justice and Florida State Attorney’s Office accuses Harkins of shooting him at close range with an assault rifle.
Harkins was arrested and charged but jumped bail and returned to his home town in 2002 to stay with his grandmother Annie, who has since died, telling her he was on holiday. He denies the killing,
In January 2003, he was involved in a car crash that claimed the life of Greenock grandmother Jean O’Neill, 62.
Harkins was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and sentenced to five years.
The UK authorities alerted the FBI to his identity, and he contested his extradition when it was requested by US in the following months.
After losing a number of bids to block his transfer, he took the case to the European Court of Human Rights. An appeal failed in 2012 but he successfully petitioned for a final hearing.
The court’s decision caused anger within the Conservative Government, with then Prime Minister David Cameron saying British rules were too often being overturned by unelected judges in Strasbourg.
In 2015, ministers unveiled plans to replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights, but it was reported this year that this had been shelved by Theresa May, leaving the European Court to rule against Harkins.
A judgment said that his complaints should be declared inadmissible as they were ‘substantially the same’ as those considered in 2012. It was determined there would be no risk of the death penalty and that life in jail without chance of parole would not breach his rights.
Harkins, who is being detained in London, can make representation against the ruling but there is no precedent of such appeals being granted.
His lawyer Yasmin Aslam said: ‘This is an offence he has always denied and continues to deny.
‘But we’ve come to the end of the line.’
A source said: ‘Given the length of the appeal, the authorities will be looking to get things moving within the month.’
Yesterday, a Home Office spokesman said: ‘Arrangements will be made for extradition to take place as soon as possible.’
‘He says he’s a victim, he’s not’ ‘Offence he has always denied’