British cousins extradited to Cyprus - Car Rental News
British cousins extradited to Cyprus
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Car Rental News - 03/12/2009
Car hire crash cousins will serve jail time in Cyprus
Losing their fight against extradition, the now-famous cousins from Essex, Michael Binnington and Luke Atkinson, turned themselves in at Belgravia Police Station. The pair were then escorted to Heathrow airport where they were handed over to Cypriot police personnel. The Supreme Court turned down their appeal against extraction and the pair were left with no choice.
In 2006, the pair of cousins were travelling through Cyprus when the hire car they were travelling in knocked down a seventeen year old youth on a motorbike. The lad died of his injuries and was by nationality a local Cypriot. The three people in the taxi were duly arrested in Cypriot. The driver of the taxi, Julian Harrington, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in the original trial. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and GBH. In the original ruling of the case, the pair was acquitted of being a dominant party in the death of the boy.
However, when both cousins returned to UK in February 2007, the High Court in Cyprus found the pair guilty in their absence. The original verdict was over ruled to hand out a sentence of being guilty of manslaughter. Since then, the pair has been fighting extradition to Cyprus and has appealed a number of courts and jurisdictions. The sentence allocated to them has been three years in prison, where atleast six months have to be completed in Cyprus before they can come back to the UK and complete the rest of their sentence here.
Their safety in the Nicosia prison in Cyprus is said to be of paramount concern, according to their lawyer, Karen Todner. She also hopes that two will be repatriated as soon as possible.
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