Efforts to extradite British fugitive end

Taipei, Oct. 9 (CNA) Scottish prosecutors have decided not to appeal a ruling by Scotland's High Court that rejected the extradition of Zain Dean, who was sentenced to prison in the case of a fatal hit-and-run accident in Taiwan in 2010, according to the Scottish Justice Directorate.

On June 6, the Scottish High Court of Judiciary ruled in a 2-1 decision that Dean could not be extradited to Taiwan to serve his sentence, on the grounds that the extradition request filed by Taipei District Prosecutors Office was outside the purview of a 2013 memorandum of understanding on extradition between Taiwan and the United Kingdom.

Following the June 6 ruling, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) said it would continue to work with its Scottish counterparts to determine whether the decision could be appealed.

On Wednesday, however, an MOJ official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Scottish prosecutors had confirmed that the case did not meet the requirements for appeal, and that Dean would not be extradited.

Dean had already served 2 years and 10 months in a Scottish prison as a result of a lower court's decision on his extradition, which meant that at least some measure of justice had been served, the MOJ official said.

Dean, a British businessman, was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison by the Taiwan High Court in June 2012, after being found guilty in March 2010 in the case of a hit-and-run accident that resulted in the death of newspaper deliveryman Huang Chun-te (黃俊德).

Dean was scheduled to begin serving his sentence in 2012 but fled Taiwan in August of that year using a friend's passport.