Football fan loses extradition battle

An England football fan lost a court battle against extradition to Portugal yesterday over his role in a riot during the Euro 2004 tournament there.

But a High Court judge said Garry Mann was the victim "of what appears to be a serious injustice", and voiced hope that he would get further help from the European Court of Human Rights, or British or Portuguese authorities.

Mann, 51, claimed that he did not have a fair trial in Portugal over his alleged role in football-related violence in the Algarve resort of Albufeira in June 2004.

The Briton was allowed to leave Portugal in June 2004 despite the legal action against him, but a European arrest warrant was issued against him in October 2008, and he was arrested in Britain in March 2009.

The High Court in London agreed that Mann had been deprived of proper legal assistance, but said it was powerless to act because it had no jurisdiction in the case.

In a ruling it voiced hope that the European court, or British or Portuguese authorities, "can strive to achieve some measure of justice for Mr Mann, a justice of which he has been so signally deprived".

The judge gave Mann's legal team two weeks to appeal to the European court or to take further action in the English courts.

Mann lamented that the High Court could not do more. "I am bitterly disappointed with today's decision," he said.

"My sovereign right to justice has been denied me, basically, as the judge said, because of the rigid framework and the statutory powers of the Extradition Act which Parliament implemented and has refused to review.

"It is nearly six years on -- six years of stress my family could have been spared. This is an unjust persecution that could have been resolved if I could have got my appeal in on time."