Gangster gets legal aid for his battle to stay in UK

‘He is taking the mickey’

A ROMANIAN gangster who fled his country to avoid jail has been granted legal aid to fight extradition from the UK.

Champion cage fighter Adrian Preda, 36, was sentenced to nine years and six months in jail in Bucharest in February 2016 for attempted murder, blackmail and membership of a crime gang.

He was bailed while he appealed. In December, Romania’s Supreme Court upheld his convictions, while reducing the sentence, but he fled then gave himself up in the UK.

He is now free in London while he awaits an extradition hearing next month – the latest in a stream of Romanian criminals exploiting a legal loophole to prevent being sent home.

MPs last night said Preda was ‘taking the mickey’ out of taxpayers who have to cover court costs and his legal aid bills. The Romanian authorities are demanding he be sent back after issuing a European Arrest Warrant.

The Mail tracked Preda down in Northolt, north-west London, where he parked his BMW 4 x 4 in a disabled bay for 30 minutes while sauntering around a parade of shops. He said being returned to Romania would breach his human rights because jail conditions there are poor. He also claimed he is innocent of the attempted murder charge. He said: ‘Everything is very bad in Romania.’

Tim Loughton MP, who sits on the parliamentary home affairs select committee, said: ‘He’s completely taking the mickey out of the system.’

Preda is being represented by the law firm Coomber Rich, which declined to comment.

The Ministry of Justice said: ‘It is a principle of the UK justice system anyone facing criminal proceedings, including extradition, can apply for legal aid.’