Tories would allow murderers and rapists to walk free - Lyon

10.42.04am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 19th May 2009

355 dangerous criminals would have walked free under Conservative policy on Europe, according to top Liberal Democrat candidate George Lyon.

While the Liberal Democrats supported the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), which has slashed extradition times across the EU from an average of eighteen months to just 43 days, the Conservatives opposed it.

As the Conservatives launch their campaign in Scotland, research carried out by the Liberal Democrats shows that hundreds of murderers, thieves, rapists and paedophiles would walk free if the Tories get their way on 4 June.

Commenting, Mr. Lyon said:

"When dangerous criminals escape the long arm of the law we must have the reach to drag them back and put them behind bars where they belong. This is exactly what the EAW allows us to do.

"The Tories want to isolate Scotland, make us less safe by tying up the police and prosecutors in red tape so that it would take years rather than days to get back rapist and robbers on the run.

"Voting against measures that help keep our families safe is further evidence that the Conservatives have lost all touch with reality. It is the act of a party comfortable at the lunatic fringe of Europe.

"We must not allow Scotland to be dragged there with them."

Graham Watson MEP, Leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, who guided the EAW legislation through the European Parliament in 2001 when he chaired the Justice and Home Affairs Committee, added:

"The Tories fought tooth and nail against the European Arrest Warrant because they'd rather indulge their dogma than catch serious criminals.

"Seven years later, nothing has changed.

"What do those Tories say now to the victims of those 335 dangerous criminals arrested under European Arrest Warrants and who might otherwise have walked free?

"They must apologise now for a policy that puts the public at risk."