Law:

Section:

Administration of justice--Committal proceedings---Jurisdiction---defendant removed from South Africa to England---Collusion alleged between police forces---Arrest in London lawful---Whether Court having jurisdiction to inquire into circumstances of defendant's presence within jurisdiction---Whether Court empowered to refuse trial where abuse of process shown---Whether jurisdiction vested in justices. The defendant, a citizen of New Zealand who was alleged to have committed criminal offences in England, was traced to South Africa by the English Police and forcibly returned to England. There was no extradition treaty between the two countries, and although special arrangements could be made for extradition in a particular case under section 15 of the Extradition Act, 1989 no such proceedings were taken. The defendant claimed that he had been kidnapped from the Republic of South Africa as a result of collusion between the South African and British Police and returned to England, where he was arrested and brought before a Magistrates' Court to be committed to the Crown Court for trial. The defendant sought an adjournment to enable him to challenge the Court's jurisdiction. The application was refused and he was committed for trial. He sought judicial review of the Magistrates' Court's decision. The Queen's Bench Divisional Court, refusing the application, held that the English Court had no power to inquire into the circumstances under which a person appearing before it had been brought within the jurisdiction. On appeal by the defendant:------ Held, allowing the appeal, (1) (Lord Oliver of Aylmerton dissenting), that where a defendant in a criminal matter had been brought back to the United Kingdom in disregard of available extradition process and in breach of international law and the laws of the State where the defendant had been found, the Courts in the United Kingdom should take cognizance of those circumstances and refuse to try the defendant; and that, accordingly, the High Court, in the exercise of its supervisory jurisdiction, had power to inquire into the circumstances by which a person had been brought within the jurisdiction and, if satisfied that there…

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