Should EU arrest warrants be extended to cover the Isle of Man?

The issue will be raised in Tynwald this week by Douglas North MHK David Ashford, and follows the arrest of a convicted rapist from Poland who had been on the run since November and living in the island.

Marian Dorobek, who had been sentenced to 10 years for multiple sex offences, was arrested at Heysham port after he arrived off the ferry from Douglas.

It later emerged that he could not be arrested in the island as European arrest warrants cannot be executed here.

In Tynwald, Mr Ashford will ask Home Affairs Minister Bill Malarkey what consideration has been given to extending the relevant provisions of the UK’s Extradition Act 2003 to the island in order that EU Arrest

Warrants might be enforced here.

Chief Constable Gary Roberts has said that extending European arrest warrants to cover the Isle of Man would probably create more problems than it solved.

He told the Examiner: ’Where a European warrant is in existence and where the suspect is in the Isle of Man, we have no powers at all.

’If the suspect is willing to go to the UK, as was recently the case, then that ends the matter as the UK authorities can act. We gave them four to five hours’ notice.

’If they are not willing to leave, then the state seeking them will have to obtain an extradition warrant. This takes time and the warrant will have to go through various judicial processes in the requesting state and in the UK, before it eventually becomes fit for execution here. Days, perhaps weeks, would likely elapse.’

Three days before his arrest, Dorobek was reported missing in the island by a family member. It emerged that he was also reported for a possible offence of affray

Manx police appealed to the public for help in tracing him and he was arrested but no further action was taken on the affray allegation as no formal complaint had been made. By then, however, police knew he was wanted on a European arrest warrant.