This article was written by James Meikle, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 3rd September 2010 14.46 UTC

The chief constable for Cambridgeshire has sharply criticised extradition rules as the Home Office prepares to announce a review of existing arrangements, including those with the US and EU countries.

Julie Spence, whose force devoted more than a year to trying to bring German doctor Daniel Ubani back to the UK after he accidentally killed a patient on his first UK shift in February 2008, alleged the process “was in some way circumvented by the German authorities,” saying the episode had been “deeply distressing for myself and officers.”

She added that “there is something wrong with a process that allows that to happen and I think there are deep discussions required between member countries to ensure that doesn’t happen again.”

Spence’s comments, in a BBC Look East interview, are likely to increase the row over the way the cases of Ubani and others have been handled, despite the Home Office insisting to the Guardian that German authorities had acted legally in refusing to extradite Ubani and prosecuting him themselves.

The chief constable, who stands down on Sunday, said: “There needs to be between European member countries some discussions around how the judicial system works, and works effectively, and we shouldn’t have something which circumvents justice being done.

“You see it before you, and you see the stress and strain it puts on the family and the pressures that actually they have to endure, by seeing what looks on the face [of it] to them and to public officials within the UK as an ineffective system.”

The main impetus for the government review has been the row with Washington over the Gary McKinnon affair, in which the 43-year-old has been accused of hacking into US computer systems.

But the review will also look at the operation of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). Serious questions have been raised about its working after the dispute between British and German police and prosecutors over the criminal investigation into the death of 70-year-old David Gray through a 10-fold overdose by the Nigerian-born Ubani in February 2008.

The Home Office announcement is expected “imminently” and will place Labour’s 2003 Extradition Act under the microscope after just seven years.

More than 1000 people were seized by police last year on the orders of European prosecutors seeking their extradition from Britain, a 51% rise in 12 months. Many of those come from Poland and in a Radio 4 programme broadcast last night the former home secretary David Blunkett said he “regrets” some aspects of the law he introduced.

Human rights charity Fair Trials International said it was delighted with the review, pointing to what it sees as injustices over a number of extraditions from the UK to other EU countries. These included the Italian authorities’ four-year fight to get an Albanian chef living in Britain extradited after convicting him of murder in absentia, only to admit they were chasing the wrong man. Among others was the extradition of a Briton to Hungary who faced months in prison without any decision being made on whether to prosecute him for any criminal offence.

Jago Russell, the chief executive of the charity, said: “People have been extradited to serve prison sentences imposed after grossly unfair trials, torn from their homes and families for the most minor offences and detained for months without trial in foreign jails. In opposition, both coalition parties expressed concerns about the UK’s extradition arrangements. We hope that they will now work with the rest of Europe to deliver a system that is both effective and fair.”

David Cameron raised McKinnon’s case with Barack Obama in July and said the government, in discussions with the US ambassador here, had raised the possibility of “some of the (sentence), if there is a prison sentence, being served in a British prison.”

At the time, the prime minister recognised that McKinnon, who faces extradition and up to 60 years in jail, was accused of a “very important and significant crime” but hoped to find a solution. He was more critical when in opposition, saying there was a clear argument to be made that McKinnon should answer questions in a British court.

Critics have argued that the extradition arrangement with the US means British citizens are not given the same legal protection as Americans.

If the US wants to extradite a Briton then it need only outline the alleged offence, the punishment outlined by law, and give an accurate description of the suspect. But British authorities have to prove an individual under suspicion has probably committed a crime.

In the Ubani case, the Home Office said the German authorities acted legally in the way they refused to extradite Ubani, who was being investigated by Cambridgeshire police and the Crown Prosecution Service for a possible manslaughter charge.

It said: “Dr Ubani was convicted in Germany so the EAW was refused on the basis of the double jeopardy safeguard. This provides a mandatory ground for the refusal of the EAW where the person has been finally judged in a member state for the same acts.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “The government has committed to reviewing its extradition arrangements, including the operation of the EAW. We will not pre-empt the findings of the review.”

Investigations last year by the Guardian and David Gray’s sons uncovered serious questions about the case.

One son, Stuart Gray, a GP, said the EAW appeared “to give all German nationals diplomatic immunity from prosecution in the UK.”

The CPS then told the Guardian that “at no stage” during a 14-month British inquiry into the incident did German authorities indicate they intended to investigate or prosecute.

But prosecutors in Germany said: “We never communicated with prosecutors in the UK that we were taking action over Ubani as we were not required to do so; neither is this normal practice. The case was dealt with in writing – Ubani never had to appear before a court – because he had signalled his willingness to accept the court’s verdict in advance. In other words, Ubani came to us, not us to him.”

When British officials finally suspected Ubani was being prosecuted in his own country, “all informal attempts to obtain information quickly” failed, the CPS said. It did not formally learn of his prosecution and conviction for negligent killing until May last year, weeks after the event and after the Guardian published a story about Gray’s death the year before. Ubani was given a suspended prison sentence for negligent killing.

Another of Gray’s sons, Rory, who works in Germany as a satellite engineer, said today: “During the last two and a half years we have been subjected to all manner of hypocrisy and deceit from all sorts of people and organisations. But these statements from the Home Office are truly stomach churning.”

In February this year, a coroner ruled that Gray had been killed unlawfully. But Ubani, though now barred from working as doctor in the UK, is still practising in Germany. Only last week, a regional doctors’ chamber in Germany investigated his fitness to practise.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010

This article was written by James Meikle, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 3rd September 2010 09.10 UTC

The Home Office is to announce a review of extradition arrangements, including those with the US and EU countries following high-profile rows over the way they are operating.

The main impetus has been the row with Washington over the Gary McKinnon affair, in which the 43-year-old has been accused of hacking into US computer systems.

But the review will also look at the operation of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). Serious questions have been raised about its working after a dispute between British and German police and prosecutors over a criminal investigation into the accidental killing of a 70-year-old patient in the UK by the Nigerian-born German doctor Daniel Ubani.

The Home Office announcement is expected “imminently” and will place Labour’s 2003 Extradition Act under the microscope after just seven years.

David Cameron raised McKinnon’s case with Barack Obama in July and said the government, in discussions with the US ambassador here, had raised the possibility of “some of the (sentence), if there is a prison sentence, being served in a British prison”.

At the time, the prime minister recognised that McKinnon, who faces extradition and up to 60 years in jail, was accused of a “very important and significant crime” but hoped to find a solution. He was more critical when in opposition, saying there was a clear argument to be made that McKinnon should answer questions in a British court.

Critics have argued that the extradition arrangement with the US means British citizens are not given the same legal protection as Americans. If the US wants to extradite a Briton then it need only outline the alleged offence, the punishment oulined by law, and give an accurate description of the suspect. But British authorities have to prove an individual under suspicion has probably committed a crime.

In the Ubani case, the Home Office said the German authorities acted legally in the way they refused to extradite Ubani, who was being investigated by British police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for a possible manslaughter charge.

It said: “Dr Ubani was convicted in Germany so the EAW was refused on the basis of the double jeopardy safeguard. This provides a mandatory ground for the refusal of the EAW where the person has been finally judged in a member state for the same acts.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “The government has committed to reviewing its extradition arrangements, including the operation of the EAW. We will not pre-empt the findings of the review.”

Investigations last year by the Guardian and the sons of David Gray, the Cambridgeshire man given a 10-fold overdose of a painkiller by Ubani in February 2008, uncovered serious questions about the case.

One son, Stuart Gray, a GP, said the EAW appeared “to give all German nationals diplomatic immunity from prosecution in the UK”.

The CPS then told the Guardian that “at no stage” during a 14-month British inquiry into the incident did German authorities indicate they intended to investigate or prosecute.

But prosecutors in Germany said: “We never communicated with prosecutors in the UK that we were taking action over Ubani as we were not required to do so; neither is this normal practice. The case was dealt with in writing – Ubani never had to appear before a court – because he had signalled his willingness to accept the court’s verdict in advance. In other words, Ubani came to us, not us to him.”

When British officials finally suspected Ubani was being prosecuted in his own country, “all informal attempts to obtain information quickly” failed, the CPS said. It did not formally learn of his prosecution and conviction for negligent killing until May last year, weeks after the event and after the Guardian published a story about Gray’s death the year before. Ubani was given a suspended prison sentence for negligent killing.

Another of Gray’s sons, Rory, who works in Germany as a satellite engineer, said today: “During the last two and a half years we have been subjected to all manner of hypocrisy and deceit from all sorts of people and organisations. But these statements from the Home Office are truly stomach churning.”

In February this year, a coroner ruled that Gray had been killed unlawfully. But Ubani, though now barred from working as doctor in the UK is still practising in Germany. Only last week, a regional doctors’ chamber in Germany was allowed to investigate his fitness to practise there.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010

This article was written by Sean Michaels, for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 19th August 2010 11.34 UTC

After leaving Roger Waters to tour Pink Floyd songs on his own, David Gilmour has entered into an altogether different collaboration – with the Orb. The ambient house act have completed their tenth studio album, and it’s chock full of Gilmour’s guitar.

Metallic Spheres, due on 4 October, is credited to the Orb “featuring David Gilmour”. The 10 songs began with Gilmour alone in the studio, jamming with producer Youth. The Orb’s Alex Paterson took these unfinished tracks and manipulated them. Youth’s bass and keyboards appear alongside Gilmour’s lap steel and electric guitar, described in a press release as, er, “discernible”.

The Orb’s most recent album, last year’s Baghdad Batteries, sank with nary a trace. According to David Gilmour’s blog, the Pink Floyd frontman did not work “with” the Orb – he was just mucking about with Youth, the former bassist in Killing Joke, and Paterson decided to cut and paste this work into an entire LP. Royalties from the album will reportedly go to the legal campaign of Gary McKinnon, a Glasgow-born hacker who is fighting extradition to the US. Gilmour has previously supported the Free Gary campaign with a cover of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s song Chicago, an ambient version of which may appear on Metallic Spheres.

In addition to CD, LP and download releases, Metallic Spheres will also be pressed in a “3D60 mix”. This is a new “three-dimensional” audio format developed by Youth and two other engineers, and apparently doesn’t require special equipment. More information, and samples, can be found here. For those who wish to experience the Orb in real, actual 3D, Paterson will appear next month at the Out of the Ordinary festival in Sussex.

As for Pink Floyd, although there seems little chance of a tour, Gilmour and Waters reunited for a one-off charity gig last month. Gilmour’s wife, Polly Samson, recorded the concert, which you can view here.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010