On Thursday 29 May 2025 District Judge Clarke discharged an Italian-Brazilian woman who had previously been extradited to Italy for her alleged involvement in an international conspiracy to traffic Class A drugs. She was initially extradited from the UK in 2015 to Italy where she was questioned by the Investigation Judge of Rome. She was then released from custody after the court determined that there was no reason to continue with the prosecution. However the Italian prosecutors decided to appeal this decision and she was tried in her absence in October of that year. She was then convicted on the basis that she was present when €200,000 were handed over in cash in 2013 although her evidence was that she believed she was working in a money transfer business and the Italian police were never able to indicate how much she was involved in the offending or what was the quantity of the drugs. She never gave evidence at her trial and was represented by a lawyer who never sought to obtain her instructions. She had never before been convicted of a criminal offence and her record in the UK was unblemished. Nevertheless she was finally convicted, in February 2024, and received a sentence of 4 years with time off for the period she spent in the notorious Rebbibia Prison in Rome from where she was unable to make international calls to her family.
Since her return to the UK she had given birth to a girl who is now seven and with whom she has a very close relationship.
The District Judge found her to be an honest witness and, refusing her extradition, concluded that it would be a disproportionate interference with her Article 8 ECHR rights given her relationship with her daughter, the significant delay since the alleged offending and that she was not a fugitive from justice.
The Italian Judicial authority has not appealed the judge’s decision.
Benjamin was instructed by Katy O’Mara of Hodge Jones & Allen
