Where, under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the need to secure the physical presence of the requested person in criminal proceedings appears, in abstract terms, compatible with the objectives of the cooperation instrument, this does not exempt the judicial authority of the executing State from carrying out the substantive assessments entrusted to it, namely compliance with the principle of proportionality. It is therefore necessary to assess the impact of surrender on the person’s family life, on the relationship with minor children and on their needs for care and protection, especially where the person is the sole parent of two very young children and there exists, in abstract terms, the possibility of securing the person’s presence by means of a video-link (excluded by the UK court not because such a tool is unavailable or prohibited under domestic law, but on discretionary grounds of expediency).

The withdrawal of the extradition request entails the revocation of real precautionary measures, with the consequent return to the rightful owner of the assets subject to seizure, given that—pursuant to Article 6(2) of the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters of 20 April 1959—the requesting State is not entitled to dispose of assets obtained through the execution of a letter rogatory that has subsequently been withdrawn. (In the present case, the Court quashed without remittal the order by which the Court of Appeal had ordered the return of the seized assets, limited to those not yet transferred to the requesting authority).