COMPENSATION—EX GRATIA SCHEME COMPENSATING PERSONS FOR PERIOD IN CUSTODY—EXTRADITION

Queen’s Bench Division (Divisional Court), Auld LJ and Wilkie J, 22 February 2007

The ex gratia scheme by which the Home Secretary may compensate those who have spent a period in custody but who have been acquitted, had their convictions quashed or charges discontinued, does not apply to the initiation and prosecution of extradition proceedings.

Edward Fitzgerald QC and Stephen Cragg (instructed by Tuckers) for the claimant.

Khawar Qureshi QC (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) for the defendant.

Following the terrorist attacks of September 2001, the US sought the claimant’s extradition. He was detained for approximately four and a half months. However, the US was unable to produce any documentary or other material to the district judge, and the claimant was discharged. He sought compensation under the scheme first introduced by the Home Secretary in 1985. Under the scheme, the