Egghead CJ will not be extradited over murder claim

A JUDGE has thrown out an extradition case over claims a quiz show panellist who grew up in Rotherham killed a man almost 30 years ago.

CJ de Mooi, a star of BBC2’s Eggheads, claimed in his autobiography he punched a man who was trying to attack him and threw him into an Amsterdam canal while sleeping rough in 1988.

The 46-year-old, who studied English and Performing Arts at Rotherham College of Arts and Technology when he was a teenager known as Joseph Connagh, related the story in his book My Journey from the Streets.

But the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) was discharged at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday”.

Rachael Scott, prosecuting, said: “Towards the end of last week a letter was received from the Dutch authorities responding to questions from the Crown Prosecution Service.

“It addressed two heads, whether there was a domestic arrest warrant in the Netherlands, an essential requirement for a valid warrant, and secondly, whether a decision had been made to charge Mr Connagh.

“The response to this set out that no, there was not a domestic arrest warrant, and he was not being charged.”

Ms Scott added that police here are still interested in talking to De Mooi, and he said he was happy to do so in the UK.

She added: “He stated at the first hearing that he would co-operate with that questioning.”

It had emerged at an earlier hearing that the Dutch warrant was “very poorly worded”.

Chris Stevens, defending, said: “There doesn’t even appear to be a name of the victim.”

Dutch police began to investigate the alleged crime following reports of De Mooi’s book launch in September 2015.

He was arrested at Heathrow Airport in September on a European arrest warrant.

A final extradition hearing had been set for November 28, but after no domestic warrant was issued, Myles Grantson, for De Mooi, applied to discharge the European Arrest Warrant.

Granting the application, Judge Khalid Quereshi said: “It was a classic case where in the absence of a domestic warrant an EAW warrant should not have been issued.

“It's a dodgy case.

“In the circumstances in the absence of a domestic warrant and the absence of any decision to charge I dismiss the European Arrest Warrant in the name of Joseph Connagh.”

Judge Quereshi also ordered the £5,000 security paid by De Mooi should be returned.

De Mooi, of Manor Farm, St Brides Netherwent, Caldicot, no longer faces extradition.