ENGLAND FOOTBALL FAN EXTRADITION DECISION DEFERRED

Garry Mann and family

BBC NEWS

Garry Mann, 51, of Faversham, Kent, was given a two-year term for his role in a riot in Albufeira during Euro 2004.

Portugal is seeking extradition under a fast-track European arrest warrant because Mann did not serve his sentence in the UK after deportation.

The European Court of Human Rights said it was deferring its decision pending the result of a final judicial hearing at the High Court, which is expected to take place at the end of March.

Jago Russell, of Fair Trials International, called Mann's trial a "travesty of justice".

He said: "He [Mann] did not know what he was charged with until after he had been convicted. He said he wasn't even in the area at the time. He has witnesses who could have supported his alibi but his witnesses did not even have an opportunity to give evidence in the court in Portugal because it all happened so quickly.

"It is a damning indictment of Europe's extradition system that the European court in Strasbourg has to stand in to deliver justice for a British citizen."