Poles facing extradition from Scotland

● Almost 50 criminals to be repatriated following after a landmark legal ruling

Almost 50 criminals will be extradited from Scotland back to Poland after a landmark legal ruling.

Patryk Maciejec, 27, failed in his attempt to remain at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last week, claiming he would not get a fair trial in his home country.

The ruling paves the way for 48 Poles, held on European Arrest Warrants but arguing to stay, to be sent back.

Maciejec was g iv ens uspended prison sentences in Poland for house breaking, theft and drink- driving, and was facing a charge of driving while already banned when he moved to Scotland in 2011.

Working in Edinburgh as a par t-time car mechanic, he was arrested four years later under a European Arrest Warrant.

His lawyers fought extradition over reforms to Poland’s judicial system by a new rightwing government that have been criticised by the EU.

But ruling on the case, Sheriff Frank Crow es aid :“Mr Maciejec could put no reason forward why his cases would attract special attention. There was no political element to the charges or the involvement of some high-ranking person that might skew the process as was suggested by some examples in the experts’ reports.”

Sheriff Crow es aid he did not find Maciejec’s evidence “impressive”.

He said: “I did not b elieve h i s c o n te n t i o n t h a t h e was u n a w a r e o f h i s t r i a l , a n d simply absconded when the nature and number of his cases reached the stage where a prison sentence loomed.”

In his ruling, Sheriff Crowe said the hearing was initially intended to be a test case for 33 similar cases involving Poles. However, he added: “There are now 48 outstanding cases awaiting this decision.”

B e a Jo n e s , t h e mo t h e r o f murder victim Moira Jones, welcomed the test- case ruling. Businesswoman Moira, 40, was killed in 200 8 after b eing drag ged into Queen’s Park, in Glasgow, yards from her home.

Slovakian Marek Harcar was jailed for life in 2009 for the crimes and ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years. He had 13 previous convictions – 11 in Slovakia and two in the Czech Republic.

B ea, who set up The Moira Fund to help other families of murder victims, has campaigned for greater checks on the criminal records of foreign nationals moving to Britain.

She said: “If someone has c o m m i t t e d c r i m e s , t h e y should pay for their crimes and they should pay for them in the country they committed them in. They should go back and face the charges. There should also be checks before people are allowed here.”

S cottish Conser vative just i c e s p o ke s ma n L i a m Ke r r said: “Sheriff Crowe has good reason to believe an alleged offender will receive as fair a trial in Poland as they would in Edinburgh.

“I think the public expects justice to be done wherever a crime is committed, whether that’s in the UK or Europe.”

Po l a n d i s r e s p o n s i b l e f o r more than half of all European Arrest Warrants applied for in Scotland.

Scotland received 170 applications in 2017, of which 98 were from Poland.