The European Arrest Warrant should be supported

UKIP and the Tories are now arguing that suspected criminals should be immune from prosecution in other European countries for crimes committed there, if they are British.

A young British lad, Jonny Hiles, died just over a year ago after being punched in a nightclub in Greece. Under the European Arrest Warrant, which Britain and its European partners agreed a few years ago, Greek police spent a year putting together their case, presented it to magistrates in Athens, obtained their approval and asked British police to arrest their suspect, one Andrew Symeou of London, so that he can face trial.

Yet UKIP MEPs and disgraced former Tory MP Neil Hamilton have come out against it, much to the dismay of the friends and family of the victim in Wales. Both Hamilton and UKIP argue that a case should be presented in a British court first (although the crime was committed in Greece, where most evidence and witnesses are located).

I wonder what they would have said if the suspected London bomber, sent back from Italy under a European Arrest Warrant to face prosecution in Britain, could not have been sent back without first going through the lengthy process of an Italian court hearing plus appeal (by which time he would have been held for years on remand or, more likely, scarpered)