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England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions


You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions >> Gwiazdecki v Polish Judicial Authority [2023] EWHC 1539 (Admin) (22 June 2023)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2023/1539.html
Cite as: [2023] EWHC 1539 (Admin)

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Neutral Citation Number: [2023] EWHC 1539 (Admin)
Case No: CO/2190/2023

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
KING'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT

Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
22nd June 2023

B e f o r e :

MR JUSTICE FORDHAM
____________________

Between:
LESZEK GWIAZDECKI
Appellant
- and -

POLISH JUDICIAL AUTHORITY
Respondent

____________________

George Hepburne Scott (instructed by Bark & Co) for the Appellant
Tom Davies (instructed by CPS) for the Respondent

Hearing date: 22.6.23
Judgment as delivered in open court at the hearing

____________________

HTML VERSION OF JUDGMENT AS DELIVERED IN OPEN COURT AT THE HEARING APPROVED
____________________

Crown Copyright ©

    Note: This judgment was produced and approved by the Judge, after using voice-recognition software during an ex tempore judgment.

    MR JUSTICE FORDHAM:

  1. Having considered afresh the question of extradition bail, under my s.22(1A) Criminal Justice Act 1967 jurisdiction, I have come to the same conclusion as did District Judge Sternberg on 14 June 2023 and am refusing bail. Notwithstanding the suite of proposed bail conditions, including all the usual bail safeguards and a £500 pre-release cash security, and notwithstanding the evidence of the medical condition of the 39 year old Appellant, I have concluded in all the circumstances that there are substantial grounds for believing that if released on conditional bail he would fail to surrender. I have assessed risk having regard to all the features and circumstances of the case, in this conviction Extradition Arrest Warrant case. The Appellant is likely to perceive an imminent 'regularising' solution to the points previously made about (a) the current April 2022 Warrant being now 'out of sync' with the April 2023 sentence-aggregation order in Poland and/or (b) new Further Information possibly needing an extension of time. The Appellant may well also perceive as slender the prospect, at the July 2023 scheduled extradition hearing, of his resisting extradition to face the balance of his 20 month custodial term (minus his now 8 months qualifying remand). On the face of it, he has previously run away acoss borders from that very responsibility: he was in Poland in 2016 and aware of the 12 month custodial sentence (for the 2015 sexual assault), and the activation of the previously-suspended 14 month custodial sentence (for the 2012/2013 offences including domestic violence and a threat to kill); he then decided to come to the UK in 2017; and he did so leaving behind in Poland the 4 children from a previous relationship, despite what he says are continuing ties. In my assessment, his relatively recent relationship (which began 10 months before his October 2022 extradition arrest), and the other features of the case, do not allay the serious abscond-risk concerns.
  2. 22.6.23


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URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2023/1539.html