Lancashire man must face trial in Spain on drugs charges

Gary Scot Fenton, 39, lives in Chorley with the mother of his two children, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave told London’s High Court.

He challenged a district judge’s decision in September last year to order his extradition to Spain.

That followed a European Arrest Warrant issued in March last year by the Court of Palma de Mallorca.

The warrant alleged Mr Fenton was ‘one of the leading members of an organised criminal band’.

It was ‘dedicated to trafficking and supplying’ drugs ‘mostly to British tourists in Magaluf’, the Spanish authorities claimed.

Mr Fenton was said to have ‘fled from Spain’ and to have been ‘in charge of the delivery of the drugs parcels to Majorca’.

He had previous convictions, including in 2003 for conspiracy to import Class-A drugs into the UK for which he was jailed for 10 years, the court heard.

His lawyers argued that the district judge should have blocked his extradition as there had been no formal decision to try him in Spain.

But Mr Justice Haddon-Cave said: “I reject Mr Fenton’s grounds of challenge against the findings of the judge ... and dismiss the appeal.”

“He will be extradited in accordance with the European Arrest Warrant,” ruled the judge, who was sitting with Lord Justice Irwin.