No UK trial to establish evidence of supplying global crystal-meth labs By Billy Briggs.
A SCOTS couple who have four children face the possibility of prison and extradition to America next month despite having not stood trial in a court for the crime of which they are accused.
In a case that highlights the controversial impact on British justice of the post-9/11 extradition treaty signed between the UK and the US, Brian and Kerry Howes of Bo’ness, West Lothian, are facing extradition to America on allegations of supplying chemicals over the internet in a conspiracy to produce crystal meth.
The couple, who deny the charges, face a preliminary extradition hearing at the high court in Edinburgh on January 14. They fear they will be remanded in custody and their four children will go into care ahead of their removal to America.
Under the terms of the treaty, the US can apply to have someone extradited without any trial taking place in the UK. On signing the Extradition Act 2003, the then home secretary, David Blunkett, removed the obligation on US law enforcement agencies to present British courts with prima facie evidence of criminality. Thanks to the Royal Prerogative, the treaty became law without parliamentary debate, which means that the US must only provide “written information” relating to an alleged wrongdoing.
Crystal meth – a form of amphetamine that has been crystallised so that it can be smoked – is a highly dangerous and addictive drug that has pervaded the poorer sections of American society for the past 20 years. Pseudoephedrine, iodine and red phosphorus are the three main chemicals required to make the drug, which produces a high that may last 12 hours or more.
Brian Howes – an amateur pyrotechnician who sold chemicals in the UK legally – denies that he and his wife broke the law by selling iodine and red phosphorus through their internet business. But federal prosecutors at the Drug Enforcement Agency in Arizona allege they were part of a drugs racket supplying a global network of meth labs in the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries.
Howes said their children will have to go into care if they are remanded in custody and that his wife, Kerry, is 23 weeks pregnant and faces giving birth to their fifth child on a chain gang in Arizona. “We just want a fair trial in the UK but that is not going to happen as the extradition treaty replaces the word evidence’ with information’ – and information is accepted as true, that is the wording of the act. We have no faith in these proceedings as the files from our previous solicitors have not arrived with our current solicitors after three months, so no defence has been able to be mounted.
“In England, people are bailed right up to the House of Lords and then the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), but we will be remanded during or after the high court hearing in Edinburgh. We need help with a fund to fight in the ECHR and then we may have a chance of bail. The Scottish legal aid system does not pay for this – in England it is even afforded to people who have confessed to a crime.”
Brian Howes Family
While a passionate debate raged across Britain about the 42-day limit for terror suspects, Brian, 44, and, Kerry-Ann, 30, previously spent 214 days on remand in prison, a detention that lasted five times longer than the proposed terror suspect threshold passed by the House of Commons in June but recently rejected by the House of Lords.
People can be held on remand indefinitely under the extradition treaty.
Brian Howes on Twitter
Howes Family You-Tube
The USA should not have its right to demand extradition from the UK any supposed felon without that ‘supposed felon’ is deemed such under UK law in the first instance. In any case, an extradition treaty must be treated equally between nations, which seek to ‘exchange’ supposed felons between them. The USA prefers not to share an extradition arrangement with the UK while it insists the UK adhere to some supposed extradition from UK to USA while refusing in its ‘exchange law’ vice-versa.
Comment by Bob Clark — November 2, 2009 @ 4:17 am |
The USA has a penchant for exporting it’s laws. They behave at all times with an arrogance that is almost beyond comprehension for the rest of the civilised world.
It manifests itself in 1- the automatic way the FBI is dispatched anywhere on earth where there has been a violation of American rights – as if local police forces are incapable of conducting an intelligent investigation. and 2- The dispatch of military advisers to help dictatorial regimes eliminate anti-American opposition.
The only thing that I can think of that has a similar arrogance is the Royal prerogative, since it allows the government in power to behave in exactly the same way.
Human rights are a farce for anyone who is not an American – which is hardly surprising when one considers how many untermenchen have been murdered around the world for the protection of American interests.
The solution for the British people is for parliament to abrogate both the extradition treaty and the Royal prerogative. The opportunity – the impending reform of parliament.
Comment by Alan — November 27, 2009 @ 3:08 pm |
• 18,000 personal records from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP): In December
2007, it was revealed that 18,000 personal records were found at a former DWP contractor’s
home. The contractor still had unencrypted compact discs containing the details of thousands
of benefit claimants, despite having stopped working for the DWP a year before. The two discs
held up to 9,000 names each (BBC Online, 1 December 2007).
• DVLA data:In December 2007 Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly, was forced to admit that the
personal details of more than three million learner drivers had gone missing. The names,
addresses and telephone numbers for every candidate who applied for a driving theory test
between September 2004 and April 2007 were on a computer hard drive which was lost in May
at a supposedly secure facility in the US. (Hansard, 17 Dec 2007, Column 624)
• MOD data:In January 2008, it emerged that a laptop computer containing the details of
600,000 people was stolen from the MOD. The laptop listed the personal information of
recruits to the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force, and of others who had
expressed an interest in joining. It contained passport details, national insurance numbers,
drivers’ licence information, family details, doctors’ addresses and NHS numbers. The
Ministry of Defence said the laptop was stolen from a Royal Navy officer’s car parked in
Birmingham on 9 January but it had decided – after consulting the police – not to disclose the
theft immediately. Defence Secretary, Des Browne, later admitted the loss of two further
laptops containing more sensitive information (Hansard, 21 Jan 2008, Column 1225)
• MoD admits 658 laptops stolen: Defence Secretary Des Browne was forced to re-issue and
revise upwards previous estimates of the number of laptops stolen from 347 to 658 in the last
four years after ‘anomalies in the reporting process’ were discovered. In addition the MoD said
that 89 laptops had been lost. The department also said that 26 portable memory sticks
containing classified information had been either stolen or misplaced since January. In a
separate response, ministers said that 131 of the department’s USB memory sticks had been
taken or misplaced since 2004 (The Telegraph, 19 July 2008).
• National DNA database: Under Labour, the National DNA database has grown to five million
samples, the largest in the world per head of population. The costs of service delivery have
doubled since 2002, when the rules were changed to allow permanent retention of innocent
people’s DNA (National DNA Database Annual Report 2006/7). Yet, total detected crimes in
which a DNA match was available have dropped by 16.5 per cent between 2002-03 and 2007-08
(Hansard, 4 February 2009, Column 1244WA). There are thought to be a million innocent
people on the database and yet there are over two million people with a police record without a
profile on the DNA database (Hansard, 5 November 2008, Column 602WA). In 2008, the
European Court of Human Rights held that the government’s arbitrary approach breached the
right to privacy (S. and Marper v. United Kingdom, 4 December 2008). The Government has
long ignored calls from the Conservatives for a Parliamentary debate on the database and for it to
be put on a proper statutory footing. In May 2009, and despite the Marperruling, it announced
that innocent people’s DNA would still be retained for a maximum period of 12 years. AFTER 21 ARRESTS ON ME WHO IS THE CRIMINALS NOW
Comment by NEILSCOTT — March 8, 2010 @ 1:15 am |
• 18,000 personal records from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP): In December
2007, it was revealed that 18,000 personal records were found at a former DWP contractor’s
home. The contractor still had unencrypted compact discs containing the details of thousands
of benefit claimants, despite having stopped working for the DWP a year before. The two discs
held up to 9,000 names each (BBC Online, 1 December 2007).
• DVLA data:In December 2007 Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly, was forced to admit that the
personal details of more than three million learner drivers had gone missing. The names,
addresses and telephone numbers for every candidate who applied for a driving theory test
between September 2004 and April 2007 were on a computer hard drive which was lost in May
at a supposedly secure facility in the US. (Hansard, 17 Dec 2007, Column 624)
• MOD data:In January 2008, it emerged that a laptop computer containing the details of
600,000 people was stolen from the MOD. The laptop listed the personal information of
recruits to the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force, and of others who had
expressed an interest in joining. It contained passport details, national insurance numbers,
drivers’ licence information, family details, doctors’ addresses and NHS numbers. The
Ministry of Defence said the laptop was stolen from a Royal Navy officer’s car parked in
Birmingham on 9 January but it had decided – after consulting the police – not to disclose the
theft immediately. Defence Secretary, Des Browne, later admitted the loss of two further
laptops containing more sensitive information (Hansard, 21 Jan 2008, Column 1225)
• MoD admits 658 laptops stolen: Defence Secretary Des Browne was forced to re-issue and
revise upwards previous estimates of the number of laptops stolen from 347 to 658 in the last
four years after ‘anomalies in the reporting process’ were discovered. In addition the MoD said
that 89 laptops had been lost. The department also said that 26 portable memory sticks
containing classified information had been either stolen or misplaced since January. In a
separate response, ministers said that 131 of the department’s USB memory sticks had been
taken or misplaced since 2004 (The Telegraph, 19 July 2008).
• National DNA database: Under Labour, the National DNA database has grown to five million
samples, the largest in the world per head of population. The costs of service delivery have
doubled since 2002, when the rules were changed to allow permanent retention of innocent
people’s DNA (National DNA Database Annual Report 2006/7). Yet, total detected crimes in
which a DNA match was available have dropped by 16.5 per cent between 2002-03 and 2007-08
(Hansard, 4 February 2009, Column 1244WA). There are thought to be a million innocent
people on the database and yet there are over two million people with a police record without a
profile on the DNA database (Hansard, 5 November 2008, Column 602WA). In 2008, the
European Court of Human Rights held that the government’s arbitrary approach breached the
right to privacy (S. and Marper v. United Kingdom, 4 December 2008). The Government has
long ignored calls from the Conservatives for a Parliamentary debate on the database and for it to
be put on a proper statutory footing. In May 2009, and despite the Marperruling, it announced
that innocent people’s DNA would still be retained for a maximum period of 12 years. AFTER 21 ARRESTS ON ME WHO IS THE CRIMINALS NOWI BELEIVE RAY MALLONIS ONE
Comment by NEILSCOTT — March 8, 2010 @ 1:17 am |