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Joe Mendy - Extradited and now fearing a Spanish jail sentence |
Student fears two-year wait in jail over fake
cash charge
‘I never thought I’d be sitting in prison,’ says accused extradited to Spain
A STUDENT from Camden Town who is accused of handling counterfeit money on a holiday in the Canary Islands is due to plead for his freedom at a bail hearing on Thursday after being extradited to Spain.
Joe Mendy, 22, yesterday (Wednesday) spent his first night in a Madrid prison after being sent to Spain to stand trial.
He is charged with handling little more than £100 in fake euros while on holiday four years ago, a case he did not even know Spanish authorities were pursuing.
Police escorted him from his home in Leybourne Street to Heathrow, where he was handed over to Spanish police yesterday.
If he is not granted bail, he could spend up to two years in custody in Spain before his trial.
A judge is due to review the case today but a decision on bail may not be reached for ten days, a wait which Mr Mendy must sit out in his prison cell.
Speaking to the New Journal on Tuesday, as he prepared to say goodbye to friends and relatives, he said: “It will change me. I never thought I’d be sitting in a prison. I haven’t looked into what the prison there is like. I’d rather just get the shock when I get there.
“If you told me six months ago I’d be in prison I’d have laughed.”
Mr Mendy, a former Haverstock School pupil due to start studying for a psychology degree in September, added: “They’re taking me all the way to another country and they haven’t even got any strong evidence to warrant it. I have to let them take me but I haven’t even done anything so what can they possibly do?”
His mother Kay wants to use her son’s case to highlight a legal loophole.
“This extradition law was meant for terrorists and rapists – big criminals – but there’s a loophole that allows Joe’s extradition to happen,” she said.
Mr Mendy has been extradited under a European treaty signed by the then Home Secretary David Blunkett in 2003.
Mrs Mendy, a childminder, said Germany and the Netherlands had inserted clauses when they signed the treaty to prevent such situations, but Britain had failed to do so.
“I can’t believe what’s happening. It’s killing me,” she said.
“It’s the government’s responsibility to change the law. It’s going to happen to other people unless the law gets sorted out.”
Mr Mendy was arrested in Fuerteventura four years ago with two friends.
The three friends – who were just 18 at the time – were found with little more than £100 in fake notes, and were accused of knowingly spending and even printing the money. Mr Mendy claimed fake notes were in circulation at the resort.
His plight has horrified politicians, including Labour councillor Pat Callaghan, who has written a character reference for him.
Holborn and St Pancras Labour MP Frank Dobson said the law should never have been used to extradite someone over such a petty alleged misdemeanour. |
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