UK court orders extradition of businessman as part of Garda Adrian Donohoe murder probe

Gardaí want to charge James Flynn (31) with the 2013 robbery at Lordship credit union near Dundalk during which the detective garda was shot dead.

Mr Flynn, originally from south Armagh, is also set to face another charge of conspiracy to commit burglary. He is not charged with murder.

He was arrested last July near Watford on foot of an extradition warrant and has fought efforts to be returned to Ireland.

His defence had argued that he should not be extradited due to the passage of time, claiming that he is suffering from memory loss and can't recall events around the time of the robbery.

However, this morning the presiding judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court ruled that he should be extradited.

Mr Flynn was in court for the brief hearing where he was informed of the decision.

He was advised that he has one week to seek leave to appeal the ruling and that, if he doesn't, he will be removed from the UK within ten days of that time expiring.

James Flynn's barrister said that his client would want time to consider the judgement today and over the next seven days.

Members of his family were in court for the hearing as well as Tony Brady, the father of convicted killer Aaron Brady who is serving a minimum 40-year sentence for the capital murder of Det Gda Donohoe (41) on January 25, 2013.

Evidence was previously given in the extradition proceedings that James Flynn was the "best friend" of Aaron Brady at the time of the robbery.

At a hearing earlier this month Mr Flynn's barrister Graeme Hall argued that the extradition would be unfair on a number of grounds including the lengthy passage of time between the alleged offending and his arrest.

Mr Hall said there was also medical evidence that his client's memory is now "significantly and adversely affected" and that he can't recall what took place in 2012 and 2013.

James Flynn had also claimed in court that he was suffering a panic attack in a failed application to have the case adjourned.

Amanda Bostock, for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said that the delay was due to the complexity of the case which included over 6,000 lines of inquiry and 3,200 statements gathered across several different countries.

She said there is nothing to suggest Mr Flynn's PTSD is now worse than at the time of the robbery, and that he gave statements to police on three occasions in 2013 when his account was "fresh in his mind".

Counsel for Flynn also argued that another reason why the request should be refused is that the specific offences he is accused of weren't set out in the extradition warrant.

Mr Hall said there had been a "broad omnibus description" of the charges but that there was no specific understanding of the case against James Flynn.

Ms Bostock said that the case was one of joint enterprise and that they did not have to prove exactly what role Mr Flynn allegedly had in the offences.

It was the prosecution's case, she said, that Mr Flynn was in the credit union car park and participated in the robbery, and was part of the group that committed the burglaries.

Ms Bostock had also stated that, although he is not being charged with murder, he is "charged with activity that resulted in a murder."