THE HIGH COURT in Dublin has rejected a request to extradite a father-of-five to the UK to face charges that he sexually assaulted a girl over 20 years ago when he was 13 years old.

The 34-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was wanted by Liverpool Magistrate’s Court to face two charges that he sexually assaulted a girl between January and June of 1994. The girl was six years old at the time.

Today, Mr Justice Tony Hunt rejected the UK authorities’ request to surrender the man for extradition.

‘Significant delay’

While the issue of complainant delay was not relevant to the issue, he said, there was a “significant delay” between the making of the complaint against the man and the prosecution of the case.

The judge did not accept the UK authorities’ explanations for what he termed their “administrative delay,” the court heard.

He said he considered that a strong public interest in extraditing the man was “diluted” by this and that the case showed the “pitfalls of administrative delay”.

The man was remanded on continuing bail until 16 March, when he will be discharged from the court.

The man’s family, present today in court, applauded when the judge refused the surrender.

Mr Justice Hunt said that the applause was “not welcome and might be premature”.

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