An international drug smuggler convicted of killing a British policeman will be extradited back to Britain after he serves a 30-year prison sentence in Ireland, a court ruled today.
Perry Wharrie from Loughton, Essex, was jailed after the seizure of €440 million of cocaine off the Irish coast, will be sent back to his home country at the end of his lengthy sentence.
The 49-year-old career criminal was part of an armed gang who murdered off-duty policeman Francis Mason in 1988.
Wharrie was jailed for 17 years but fled the UK while on parole.
He surfaced again in July 2007 during a botched drug smuggling operation off the south-west coast of Ireland when a boat’s two high-powered outboard motors were filled with diesel instead of petrol.
Mr Justice Michael Peart, at the High Court, said he did not believe any reason put forward by Wharrie’s legal team was significant enough to prove he should not make an order to surrender.
Dressed in a smart dark suit and flanked by prison officers and gardai, Wharrie did not speak during the brief hearing.