This story seems to have been buried by the British Press as it only seems to have been reported pre-trial in the Irish and American papers.
What were the CPS thinking? What a waste of money.
*They ordered his wife and twin 18-year-old sons out of bed at gunpoint*
Why do American police have to do everything with guns?
Absolutely crazy to go through all of that with what seems to be essentially no evidence. Seems like a massive abuse
I can only see institutionalised anti-Irish prejudice being the prime motivation in this case, given the prosecution witness is deceased and this pub row happened almost half a century ago.
It’s beyond incredible, and whoever made the decision to proceed with this should be fired. But they won’t be, because Paddy-bashing is still a thing in England (as we have witnessed over the past few years from Prime Ministers, the British military milieu and right-wing media).
Admits he became involved in a drunken brawl and claims he was ‘set up’ by an off duty police officer who identified him at the scene. Riiiight.
The worst part I’d say was the seven months spent in pre-trial detention in the UK before eventually being found not guilty. What was the justification for not granting him bail? That he didn’t have a UK address to reside at?
I think the CPS got exactly what they wanted out of this. He skipped bail but even without having to prove guilt for his charged offence he was pretty much locked up for a number of years. Even if he was found guilty they probably would of released him for time spent in jail. I think they just was trying to send a message to be honest.
Not sure how much I believe this guys story. He claims he wasn’t involved at all yet he flees to Ireland. Then claims he went on holiday to the US and simply decided to stay, it’s completely glossed over that he’s there illegally. The bit about 9/11 was clearly thrown in there to show his good character. Admittedly, it’s very heavy handed by Yorkshire Police to have him extradited for such a minor crime but at the same time he doesn’t seem the most honest individual who is probably making light of his true involvement.
>McGrath was at greater risk from Covid-19 due to respiratory complications, some of which related to time spent volunteering at the site of the World Trade Center after the 9/11 terror attacks.
Cor blimey, a real hardened criminal here. Better lock him up, boys!
Honestly, do the police have nothing better to do with their time? How on earth can they justify these costs when they clearly didn’t even have enough evidence for him to be found guilty? I hardly believe that they would bother doing any of this if it was a member of the public that was assaulted and not a police officer.
>In 2015, a local neighbourhood police officer in West Yorkshire “became aware and revisited” an outstanding warrant for McGrath. The officer referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which began extradition proceedings in 2016.
>
>[…]
>
>Martin questions why prosecutors chose to “spend so much money and time and effort bringing back Mr McGrath for an allegation, which by any standards was low on the Richter scale of assaults”.
What a complete waste of police resources. How did anyone spend any time on this when so many crimes with real victims and easy to find culprits happen every day and the police does not care.
So they started extradition proceedings in 2016, he wasn’t aware until 2021, then once extradited to the UK HE WAS HELD IN PRISON FOR 7 MONTHS before a trial in which the case was thrown out.
The justice system is really fucked, isn’t it? It would be hard to justify how any part of that really makes sense.
“The 21-year-old, by his own admission, became involved in a drunken fight between two groups of young men” and he was always facing “constant harrasment” from the police.
> He spent seven months in HMP Leeds awaiting trial.
Fuck sake. May as well just burn my cash and save HMRC the trouble of collecting it.
This is a fucking joke you’d think both countries have more important things to be dealing with.
Sounds like a cop was rooting through the old files and decided on this case for some reason..not sure why though. To catch a killer or serial rapist, I could understand. Or perhaps if there had been severe, life changing injuries. All that money wasted (and a man losing his liberty for 7 months) for someone who was alleged to have been part of an attack where someone had their nose broken.. 41 years ago. I don’t get it. Sounds like the judge didn’t either.
I mean this went through a chain of command in the police, through the CPS too. Why? What a waste of time. On the word of one police officer, who had since died so couldn’t be giving evidence in court.
I find this to be ridiculous unless the man had committed murder, which he hasn’t. Surely, the statute of limitations makes this case a no-go from the start.
Yet they won’t extradite IRA murderers from Southie
Nice that see, that even in the 21st century, we still hate the Irish with all our heart, and we try to make their life a misery.
I can’t help but think our resources are best used elsewhere
20 comments
This story seems to have been buried by the British Press as it only seems to have been reported pre-trial in the Irish and American papers.
What were the CPS thinking? What a waste of money.
*They ordered his wife and twin 18-year-old sons out of bed at gunpoint*
Why do American police have to do everything with guns?
Absolutely crazy to go through all of that with what seems to be essentially no evidence. Seems like a massive abuse
I can only see institutionalised anti-Irish prejudice being the prime motivation in this case, given the prosecution witness is deceased and this pub row happened almost half a century ago.
It’s beyond incredible, and whoever made the decision to proceed with this should be fired. But they won’t be, because Paddy-bashing is still a thing in England (as we have witnessed over the past few years from Prime Ministers, the British military milieu and right-wing media).
Admits he became involved in a drunken brawl and claims he was ‘set up’ by an off duty police officer who identified him at the scene. Riiiight.
The worst part I’d say was the seven months spent in pre-trial detention in the UK before eventually being found not guilty. What was the justification for not granting him bail? That he didn’t have a UK address to reside at?
I think the CPS got exactly what they wanted out of this. He skipped bail but even without having to prove guilt for his charged offence he was pretty much locked up for a number of years. Even if he was found guilty they probably would of released him for time spent in jail. I think they just was trying to send a message to be honest.
Not sure how much I believe this guys story. He claims he wasn’t involved at all yet he flees to Ireland. Then claims he went on holiday to the US and simply decided to stay, it’s completely glossed over that he’s there illegally. The bit about 9/11 was clearly thrown in there to show his good character. Admittedly, it’s very heavy handed by Yorkshire Police to have him extradited for such a minor crime but at the same time he doesn’t seem the most honest individual who is probably making light of his true involvement.
>McGrath was at greater risk from Covid-19 due to respiratory complications, some of which related to time spent volunteering at the site of the World Trade Center after the 9/11 terror attacks.
Cor blimey, a real hardened criminal here. Better lock him up, boys!
Honestly, do the police have nothing better to do with their time? How on earth can they justify these costs when they clearly didn’t even have enough evidence for him to be found guilty? I hardly believe that they would bother doing any of this if it was a member of the public that was assaulted and not a police officer.
>In 2015, a local neighbourhood police officer in West Yorkshire “became aware and revisited” an outstanding warrant for McGrath. The officer referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which began extradition proceedings in 2016.
>
>[…]
>
>Martin questions why prosecutors chose to “spend so much money and time and effort bringing back Mr McGrath for an allegation, which by any standards was low on the Richter scale of assaults”.
What a complete waste of police resources. How did anyone spend any time on this when so many crimes with real victims and easy to find culprits happen every day and the police does not care.
So they started extradition proceedings in 2016, he wasn’t aware until 2021, then once extradited to the UK HE WAS HELD IN PRISON FOR 7 MONTHS before a trial in which the case was thrown out.
The justice system is really fucked, isn’t it? It would be hard to justify how any part of that really makes sense.
“The 21-year-old, by his own admission, became involved in a drunken fight between two groups of young men” and he was always facing “constant harrasment” from the police.
I wonder if the two facts are related?
Seems that name + assault go hand in hand: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rory_McGrath
> He spent seven months in HMP Leeds awaiting trial.
Fuck sake. May as well just burn my cash and save HMRC the trouble of collecting it.
This is a fucking joke you’d think both countries have more important things to be dealing with.
Sounds like a cop was rooting through the old files and decided on this case for some reason..not sure why though. To catch a killer or serial rapist, I could understand. Or perhaps if there had been severe, life changing injuries. All that money wasted (and a man losing his liberty for 7 months) for someone who was alleged to have been part of an attack where someone had their nose broken.. 41 years ago. I don’t get it. Sounds like the judge didn’t either.
I mean this went through a chain of command in the police, through the CPS too. Why? What a waste of time. On the word of one police officer, who had since died so couldn’t be giving evidence in court.
I find this to be ridiculous unless the man had committed murder, which he hasn’t. Surely, the statute of limitations makes this case a no-go from the start.
Yet they won’t extradite IRA murderers from Southie
Nice that see, that even in the 21st century, we still hate the Irish with all our heart, and we try to make their life a misery.
I can’t help but think our resources are best used elsewhere