Dixon v Kingdom of Spain

Extradition – European arrest warrant. By a European arrest warrant (EAW), the respondent sought the appellant's surrender from Gibraltar to face criminal proceedings for an offence allegedly committed in 1992. The appellant's challenges to the validity of the EAW were rejected and he appealed. The central issue was whether the charge intended under the present penal code involved a real risk that the appellant would be pursued for acts which had not, in 1992, constituted such an offence. The Privy Council, in dismissing the appeal, held, inter alia, that there was nothing in the language of the Spanish Constitution or in common sense to compel a conclusion that there should be no surrender unless the relevant provision under the current penal code had had a single analogue in the previous penal code.