EXTRADITION

Return following conviction and sentence - sentence of 120 days' imprisonment with further 60 suspended - suspended portion to be included when calculating severity of punishment so applicant extraditableLees v Government of Norway: DC (Buxton LJ and Penry-Davey J): 13 October 2000The applicant had been convicted of assault by a Norwegian court and sentenced to 120 days' imprisonment, with a further 60 days suspended.

He absconded and returned to the United Kingdom without having served his sentence.

The Norwegian government sought the applicant's extradition, and he was committed by a stipendiary magistrate to await the Secretary of State's decision.

The applicant sought a writ of habeas corpus ad subjiciendum.

Helen Malcolm (instructed by Moss & Co.) for the applicant.

Clive Lewis (instructed by the Crown Prosecution Service) for the Government of Norway.

Held, refusing the application, that art.2(1) of the European Convention on Extradition (1991)(Cm 1762) provided that a person sentenced to imprisonment could only be extradited if 'the punishment awarded' had been for a period of at least four months; that the provisions of the Convention must be looked at in a broadly sensible way; that art.2(1) was intended to provide a rule of thumb to indicate the seriousness of the offence committed; that 'the punishment awarded' clearly included the suspended part of a prison sentence; and that, accordingly, the applicant had been sentenced for a period of over four months, and so the applicant was liable to extradition.