High Court quashes extradition of 'terrorist'

The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, suffered an embarrassing legal defeat yesterday when a judge quashed the extradition to France of a suspected Islamic terrorist.

The High Court setback came only hours before Mr Blunkett announced an overhaul of Britain's extradition laws, which he described as "outdated and cumbersome".

The Home Secretary is seeking to extradite an Algerian, Rachid Ramda, to France. Mr Ramda, 32, is accused of involvement in terrorist attacks on French trains and the Paris Metro, which left 10 people dead and 180 injured. But Lord Justice Sedley, sitting with Mr Justice Poole, quashed the extradition because evidence against Mr Ramda came from a co-accused who, it was claimed, was ill-treated by the French during interrogation.

Mr Ramda has fought extradition since his arrest in 1995. The case is estimated to have cost £500,000 so far.

In a consultation paper, the Government outlined plans to implement the controversial European arrest warrant, which allows suspects to be moved swiftly across EU states to face trial. The warrants cover terrorism and 31 other offences, including some that are not illegal in the UK, such as Germany's ban on "xenophobia".