§ Mr. AshtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what representations were made to his Department by the court in Parma, Majorca regarding the appearance of a defence witness Carol Birch to testify on behalf of Mr. Russell Torr of Doncaster road, Carlton in Lidnick, Worksop, Nottingham; and what responses they made;
(2) if his Department had access to the name, address and passport number of Carol Birch and a copy of the statement she made to the court in Palma, Majorca; if this statement was made available to the trial of Russell Ton and what was the reason for the decision; and if he will make a statement regarding what efforts were made to contact Carol Birch as requested by the court in Palma.
§ Mr. MacleanOn 7 December 1993, the Home Office received from the Provincial Tribunal, Palma de Mallorca, a summons to be served on Ms Carol Birch calling for her appearance before the tribunal for the purposes of proceedings concerning Mr. Russell Torr. The tribunal provided a passport number, but not a full address. Article 14 of the European convention on mutual assistance in criminal matters, to which the United Kingdom and. Spain are parties, provides, in the case of a summons, that the issuing authority shall provide the address of the person to be served. In these circumstances, the tribunal was advised on 17 December 1993 that the summons had not been served because the address provided was not sufficient. The tribunal was advised of this again on 12 January 1994. The Home Office has no knowledge in this case of a statement made by Ms Birch.