James Stansfeld, instructed by Katy Smart of Sonn Macmillan Walker, represented Mr Mithan in a multi-handed request from Albania. James and Katy successfully challenged, through judicial review, the legality of the Secretary of State’s order for extradition and, separately, in the statutory appeal, the decision to send the case to the Secretary of State.
The Administrative Court allowed the appeals of five UK nationals sought by Albania, ordering their discharge and quashing the extradition orders. Mr Justice Swift held it was not open to the District Judge to send cases to the Secretary of State based on extradition requests that had materially changed from those certified under section 70 of the Extradition Act 2003 . Central to the ruling was James’s argument that the court’s finding that Albania’s request had shifted from offences of blood feud murder under Article 78/a and possession of weapons under article 278/1 to murder simpliciter contrary to Article 78, rendered the proceedings defective pursuant to s.70(4) of the Extradition Act 2003. Further, the Secretary of State’s Order for extradition was unlawful for it sought to order extradition for offences which had not been sent to her by the District Judge.
The judgment, [2026] EWHC 956 (Admin), provides a significant Part 2 Extradition Act precedent on strict adherence to what precise offences a Judge is considering at the extradition hearing and the wording of the Secretary of State’s extradition order.