Charlie Smith
A DEAF British man who is wanted in Spain has claimed that he will not get a fair trial because he can ‘only lip-read Scouse’.
Harry Meadows, 39, is due to stand trial for his part in a UK gang’s crime spree, blowing up cash machines on the Costa del Sol.
The father is fighting attempts to haul him before a Spanish judge, according to the Liverpool Echo.
A report by the Merseyside paper claims Spanish officials have expressed concerns that Meadows could be ‘deliberately’ exaggerating his condition.
Meadows is wanted for his role in a British gang that netted €350,000 from blowing up cash machines with hand-made explosives between Marbella and Malaga.
The Liverpool man and his cronies allegedly targeted 14 ATMs at banks between 2013 and 2014.
Spanish prosecutors are seeking to extradite Meadows to Spain, alongside five other suspects, who the Echo reports are ‘in UK prisons’.
Meadows, who denies the allegations against him, already served three months in a Spanish prison, before returning to the UK.
Despite a judge approving an extradition order at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in 2018, there is still an ongoing legal battle.
At the High Court in 2019, Meadows’ lawyer argued that he ‘required a specialist lip-speaker who could pronounce words, and shape lips, to produce a Liverpool accent, a specialism rare in England, and rarer still in Spain’.
His defence rests on the fact that he never learnt sign language and is therefore ‘unfit’ to stand trial in Spain, as he can’t lip-read Spanish.
Scousers are famous for their sense of humour, and this one is a cracker!
Drunkards, hooligans or criminals…. Gotta love the brits, eh?