Suspected Hayley Richards' murderer Quintas would remain at large without SW MEP's law

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Sun 19th Jun 2005

SW MEP Graham Watson, who leads the 89-strong Liberal Democrat group in the European Parliament, today welcomed the use by Wiltshire police of the European Arrest Warrant procedure to seek the arrest of Portuguese murder suspect Hugo Quintas. Mr Watson piloted the introduction of the Arrest Warrant through the European Parliament in 2001 when he was Chairman of the Parliament's committee on Justice and Home Affairs.

"Without the European Arrest Warrant scheme it would take Wiltshire police years to arrest Hugo Quintas and bring him to trial, and the chances are he would never face justice", Graham Watson MEP pointed out.

"Under the old system, Wiltshire police would have to go to the Home Office, who would have to go to the Foreign Office, who would have to contact the Portuguese Foreign Office, who would go to their Home Office for an arrest warrant; and even then there would be no way of forcing the Portuguese police to act. Mr Quintas would be sitting pretty in the Portuguese sun", the MEP said. "By contrast the European Arrest Warrant places a direct and immediate obligation on Portugal's police to arrest and surrender the suspect."

UK Tories opposed European Arrest Warrant.

The UK's Conservative (and UKIP) MEPs, including South West MEPs Caroline Jackson, Giles Chichester and Neil Parish, all voted against the bill to introduce the arrest warrant. British Conservatives still oppose the measure.

"Co-operation between police forces and magistrates is a clear example of the benefits Britain gets from membership of the EU", Mr Watson said.

"As long as the Conservatives believe they can pull the blankets over their heads and wish the world would go away they will never get back in to government. Their knee jerk opposition to everything European means that the family of tragic victim Hayley Richards would never see her alleged murderer brought to trial."

ENDS