Author Topic: Kef baby snatcher freed  (Read 3583 times)

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Offline Maik

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Kef baby snatcher freed
« on: Monday, 22 April, 2019 @ 02:38:18 »
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Marie Golby won't be jailed for "snatching" baby
A "SHIRLEY Valentine" convicted by a Greek court of "snatching" a baby 12 years ago will not be sent to serve her sentence after a judge said her extradition would "breach her human rights".

In 2006 Marie Golby, now 53, took the six-month-old daughter of a Romanian gypsy from Athens to the island of Kefalonia, pretending the child was her former partner's. She was charged with procuring and abetting an illicit adoption but returned to the UK before a trial could take place in 2010. In December she was shocked to learn she was still facing extradition to Greece as she believed the case was closed more than eight years ago. However, it emerged in court in the UK that the charges against Golby, of Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, were never dropped. Westminster magistrates heard that in 2017 a trial was held in Greece in Golby's absence and sentenced her to eight years in prison.

But to her relief, presiding Westminster judge John Zani declined a request to send her there. He said: "Marie Golby was aware of these proceedings when she chose to leave Crete for the UK.

"She had been bailed by the court with conditions inter alia not to leave her nominated address on the island.

"In my opinion the offence set out in the European Arrest Warrant is clearly serious and in the event of conviction for like criminal conduct in the UK a prison sentence of some length may be imposed."

Hearing that Golby took an overdose in an apparent suicide bid in February because of her fears over extradition, he said that meant her human rights would be breached if she was forced to go with no prospect of a retrial.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1117140/marie-goldby-shirley-valentine-jail-kidnap-baby-greece

If you haven't come across the Golby case, or have forgotten it, the basics are in this article from the BBC, although there's more to Ms Golby, as revealed in the Daily Mail.
« Last Edit: Monday, 22 April, 2019 @ 03:40:19 by Maik »

Offline TonyKath

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Re: Kef baby snatcher freed
« Reply #1 on: Monday, 22 April, 2019 @ 14:33:31 »
Remarkable story. Clearly the UK judge was one of the many who were persuaded. Usually the Mail treats any Brit charged/imprisoned abroad as totally innocent. But this also shows if you cross the Mail it has unlimited resources to dig the dirt - on two continents and in three countries.

Tony