Surrender to UK refused due to unnecessary and inadequately explained administrative delay

European Arrest Warrant – prosecutorial warrant – authorities in the United Kingdom seeking the surrender of man accused of two offences of indecent assault – circumstances of alleged assaults – maximum punishment of ten years – objects to surrender on grounds that it would be a disproportionate breach of his family rights - lived most of his life in Dublin – in work – long term relationship - has children - contributes actively to the welfare and lives of his partner and children – lacked criminal capacity at the time of assaults due to his age – would have been 14 at the time of offence – victim was 6 – correspondence – whether there would be any bar to proceeding against the accused in this State due to his age at the time of the commission of the alleged offences - judged by reference to provisions of domestic criminal law applicable to this situation in 1994 - common law doctrine of doli incapax - presumption that a child under seven years of age was incapable of committing a crime, together with a rebuttable presumption that a child between 7 and 14 years of age was similarly incapable – entitled to the benefit of a rebuttable presumption of incapacity - “proceeded” in this context means the invocation of the jurisdiction of a court - surrender shall only be refused where proceedings for a corresponding offence could not take place in this State by reference to the criterion of age - the benefit of a presumption against capacity is not equivalent to an age-related bar on the institution of putative proceedings - potential evidence suggests the accused knew that his conduct was seriously wrong - assessment of the proportionality - exceptional case must be established - complainant delay of 17 years - administrative delay - delay between complaint and the date upon which the accused was brought before the High Court for the purposes of the application for surrender - difficulties by the police in locating the accused - inadequate explanation for the period of approximately two years between the receipt of the complaint and the subsequent interview of the respondent by Merseyside Police - the requirement for prompt action was not observed by the authorities during the period following the formal police interview – inadequate explanation proffered for the inactivity - speed of administrative action fell short of reflecting a pressing urgency in dealing with this matter - administrative delay such that it considerably dilutes the otherwise strong public interest in extradition - private interests – family life – daughter victim of serious sexual assault - unnecessary and inadequately explained administrative delay in processing the complaint - balance between competing public and private interests must be assessed at the point in time when surrender is to occur – surrender refused – leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal granted.