Jonathan Gill contests extradition to Northern Ireland over Robbie Lawlor murder charge

Jonathan Gill, accused of murdering gangland figure Robbie Lawlor in 2020, has challenged his extradition to Northern Ireland at the High Court.

Gill argues EncroChat evidence rules put fair trial at risk in UK

Jonathan Gill (44), wanted in Northern Ireland on a charge of murdering gangland figure Robbie Lawlor, has challenged his extradition at the Irish High Court, roscommonherald.ie reports.

Gemma McLoughlin-Burke BL, appearing for Gill, told the court on Wednesday that part of the prosecution evidence proposed by the Northern Irish authorities derives from communications retrieved from the encrypted messaging platform EncroChat.

McLoughlin-Burke argued that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has previously ruled that EncroChat evidence is inadmissible in certain circumstances — specifically where an accused person cannot challenge how that evidence was gathered and transferred between policing authorities. Within the EU, she said, any defendant prosecuted on the basis of such communications would retain the right to contest admissibility before the CJEU and to invoke the European Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Those protections, she told the court, do not extend to the UK following its departure from the European Union. She described the situation as a "prima facie breach of his charter rights," saying Gill is being deprived of those rights solely because he faces prosecution in a UK jurisdiction.

Minister for Justice pushes back

Leonora Frawley BL, responding on behalf of the Minister for Justice, said EncroChat messages are, on their face, admissible in courts in both the EU and the UK. She told the court that Gill retains multiple avenues to challenge the use of those messages before the Northern Irish courts, including through standard admissibility rules and by reference to the European Court of Human Rights.

Frawley noted that the UK remains a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights and that a presumption of a fair trial therefore applies. She also pointed to a tribunal established in the UK that is actively examining the use of covert surveillance evidence in criminal proceedings.

Frawley said Gill had produced no evidence to support his claim that he faces a real risk of a fundamentally unfair trial, and had not demonstrated that he would be left without a remedy should EncroChat messages be improperly admitted. She said the applicable legal test requires proof of a "flagrant and egregious breach of fundamental rights" or a "serious risk of a fundamentally unfair trial" — a threshold she argued Gill had failed to meet.

Judge Patrick McGrath remanded Gill in continuing custody. A bail hearing is scheduled to resume the following Monday, at which the judge said he will indicate when he expects to deliver his judgment on the extradition application.

Background: feud spanning Dublin, Drogheda and Sligo

The warrant issued by the Northern Irish authorities alleges that Gill, of Malahide Road, Clontarf, on Dublin's northside, participated in a joint enterprise to murder Robert Lawlor on 4 April 2020. Gill also faces a separate charge that between 2 and 5 April 2020 he possessed a 9mm self-loading pistol with intent to endanger life or cause serious damage to property.

At a previous hearing, Detective Garda Robert Cumerford told the court that Lawlor's shooting was connected to an ongoing feud involving criminal gangs from Dublin, Drogheda and Sligo, in which several key figures have been killed.

Gardaí believe Lawlor was responsible for the murder of Drogheda teenager Keane Mulready Woods, whose dismembered remains were found in a number of locations across Drogheda and Dublin.

The State has objected to Gill being granted bail while the extradition application remains before the court.

Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)