A SPANISH judge signed off on an EU arrest warrant for an Irishman who failed to hand himself in for the start of a two-year jail sentence for manslaughter.
Judge Fernando Gonzalez who sentenced Dermot McArdle to jail in Malaga two years ago, signed his arrest warrant yesterday morning after getting the go-ahead from Spain’s State Prosecution Service.
Police forces across Spain are now under a legal obligation to arrest him and bring him before a court if he sets foot in the country.
Gardaí will be required to detain him once the court order has been translated into English and sent to them via Europol.
McArdle’s legal team, which was informed last week that the detention order was about to be issued, gave no official response.
A source close to the case said: “McArdle’s national and EU arrest warrants have been signed by the judge. The national arrest warrant has already been sent to the police and the EU warrant will be sent out as soon as it has been translated.”
McArdle, from Haggardstown, Dundalk, Co Louth, had been asked to turn himself in by September 15th to start his jail sentence. The court order followed a series of failed appeals against his October 2008 conviction for the manslaughter of his wife Kelly-Ann Corcoran.
Ms Corcoran 29, died in February 2000, two days after falling from room 421 of Marbella’s Melia Don Pepe Hotel.
Judge Gonzalez also ordered him to pay his two sons by Ms Corcoran €60,000 each for the loss of their mother, and to pay her parents Ted and Bridie €100,000. He has yet to pay the compensation, prompting the judge to order he serve his two-year prison sentence. Normally, if compensation orders are met, jail terms of two years or less are suspended in Spain for first-time offenders such as McArdle.