The High Court has rejected a suicidal woman’s plea that her extradition to Florida to face trial in connection with a fatal road accident would be unjust or oppressive.
Richen Turner, 42, from Sheffield, was ‘adamant’ that she would ‘find some way of ending it’ if her extradition to stand trial over the October 2005 accident went ahead. She had already made one serious suicide attempt using sedatives.
Lord Justice Aikens, sitting with Mr Justice Globe, acknowledged that there would be a danger of Ms Turner taking her own life in the days after she was informed that her extradition was to proceed.
She had told her psychiatrist that ‘if she was extradited she would definitely kill herself in the 10 days that would elapse between the order being made and the extradition being carried out’.
However, dismissing her challenge, the judge said that the risk of suicide could be controlled by those treating her, whether in England or in Florida. There was, he added, no evidence that Ms Turner would not receive a fair trial in Florida.
The United States Government has been seeking Ms Turner’s extradition since November 2010. She is accused of going through red lights and being over the drink-drive limit when her car was involved in the fatal collision.