A "career criminal" serving 22 life sentences has lost a legal bid to be transferred to a prison in Scotland.
Derek Brockwell, originally from Paisley, Renfrewshire, is in jail in England for armed robbery and firearm offences committed in and around London. He claims he wants to be moved from HMP Frankland in County Durham to a Scottish prison to be nearer his family and to help him deal with post-traumatic stress he suffers as a result of his involvement in Paisley's 1990s "drug wars".
Brockwell, 61, who has appeared on Crimewatch and been described as a "career criminal", launched a legal challenge to have a European Arrest Warrant granted for him over a prison escape in Ireland dropped. While he is not likely to be released from his current sentence for up to 20 years, he claims being wanted by the Irish authorities is hampering his attempts to return to his homeland.
Brockwell, a Category A prisoner who is kept in closed conditions, claimed his right to a private and family life under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights is being breached by denying him the transfer.
His plea was rejected by District Judge Marie Mallon Westminster Magistrates' Court last year and that decision has now been upheld by two judges at the High Court in London following a hearing last month.
Brockwell claimed he could deal with his mental health problems better if he was in Scotland and said HMP Frankland was too far away from his immediate family.
However in their written ruling, Lord Justice Holroyde and Mr Justice Jay said: "In our judgment, the District Judge's conclusion that it was the claimant's perception of the regime at HMP Frankland rather than any practical difficulties in travelling from Scotland to that institution which was the real reason for his not receiving visits was somewhat harsh.
"However, a harsh conclusion falls short of being an irrational one, and in our view it was open to the District Judge to conclude that the claimant should have adduced better evidence of the private and family life he claimed to be enjoying through prison visits.
It is certainly arguable that the District Judge was unsympathetic to the claimant's mental health problems, and insufficiently receptive to the proposition that his adjustment disorder in particular would respond to treatment more quickly in an environment where he would be in a better place mentally.
"As against that, it could fairly be said that the claimant's PTSD flowed from his own criminal activity and that he had taken no steps to seek psychiatric help at HMP Frankland.
"It is far from obvious that the Scottish authorities would be prepared to accept the transfer of a prisoner, with a record such as the claimant's, who has absconded on two occasions in the past, on the second occasion, it is alleged, using extreme violence.
"Overall, the claimant has been able to show a modest degree of prejudice flowing from the existence of these extradition proceedings, but he falls well short of the level of interference with his article 8 rights that would be required to justify discharge."
In 2015 Brockwell escaped from custody and crossed the border while serving a seven-year term in the Republic of Ireland. At the time, he was also the subject of other court orders, including the 22 life terms imposed in January 2000 at the Old Bailey.
Brockwell was tasered by police before stabbing himself in the stomach after being captured at a Wetherspoons beer garden in Belfast. He had bought a knife and committed robberies in the city while on the run.
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