A High Court judge has found there is nothing to "preclude" him from surrendering a Northern Irishman wanted in the UK to face multiple counts of manslaughter following the discovery of 39 dead Vietnamese nationals in a lorry trailer in Essex.
The UK authorities want Eamonn Harrison (23) from Mayobridge, Co Down, to face 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and conspiracy to commit human trafficking under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act.
Mr Justice Donald Binchy today said he received "very comprehensive" submissions from Mr Harrison's legal team and that of the Department of Justice.
He said, in light of these submissions, he found there was nothing to "preclude" the surrender of Mr Harrison and that he had a lengthy written judgement explaining his decision.
However he said this will not be ready for release until Monday, January 27th, 2020.
He said he would not summarise his 50-page judgement for fear of omitting something.
Tony McGillicuddy BL, for Mr Harrison, requested that Mr Justice Binchy defer making the order until Mr Harrison's defence team have time to consider the judgement.
The court heard that once an order is officially made, a defence team has 15 days to make an appeal.
In turn, Mr Justice Binchy said he was deferring making the order until Tuesday February 4th and adjourned the matter until that date at 10am.
