Coach driver conviction: long delays unacceptable and must not be repeated

2.15.19pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 4th Jul 2003

The European Court of Justice has juristiction over the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters.

Commenting on the case of John Johnston, the bus driver convicted of manslaughter in France yesterday because of his involvement in a crash which lead to 11 people's deaths 13 years ago, West Midlands Euro-MP Liz Lynne said:

"While I am pleased that justice has finally been served, the length of time it has taken for this case to come to trial is totally unacceptable. This has been a terrible burden on both the victims' families and Mr Johnston himself."

Liz was at pains to point however, that an inter-governmental agreement of EU countries should mean that long delays such as this should now be a thing of the past. In 2000, the EU Council agreed a Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters which establishes clear ground rules on how two countries involved in a case should work together. The Convention is expected to become UK law this autumn when the Crime (International Co-operation) Bill is passed.

One of the things that the Convention establishes is that requests for mutual assistance can be done directly between judicial authorities, rather than via governments. The UK however negotiated an exemption that means requests must still be processed via the Home Office.

"The Convention should streamline the way judicial authorities of Member States work with each other significantly, and I am hopeful that the UK government will eventually allow the UK judicial authorities to work directly with their European counterparts.

"This is another example of the real and tangible benefits that membership of the EU grants ordinary people every day."