Sonny Redmond, a 33-year-old former Bootle resident, is to be returned to Spain after consenting to his extradition during a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court on October 26. The decision follows his arrest in connection with a Spanish arrest warrant while he was in custody for an unrelated matter.
Court proceedings and arrest
Redmond was due to stand trial in Liverpool for possessing a knife and a phone while serving a previous sentence at HMP Liverpool. However, the Crown Prosecution Service discontinued the case, and while in custody he was arrested in connection with the Spanish warrant.
He appeared before Westminster Magistrates' Court on June 11 this year, with the final extradition hearing taking place today. During the hearing, Redmond consented to his extradition and did not contest it. A warrant is believed to have been issued after he allegedly broke his bail conditions by leaving the country.
Shooting in Spain
The ECHO understands Redmond had been living in the Costa Blanca area of Spain, a known British expat hotspot, although it is unclear how long he had been there. At the beginning of the year, it was revealed that Redmond had been the target of a botched car park assassination in Spain. He cheated death when a gunman sprayed more than a dozen bullets at his vehicle in a car park on December 11 last year.
Redmond is said to have been hit in the arm, leg, and chest before alerting a neighbour about his injuries as the gunman fled. The shooting, at around 10pm, took place in an underground garage in a residential area of Orihuela Costa, north of Torrevieja, called Lomas de Cabo Roig. Images widely shared on social media and in the Spanish press showed the front windscreen riddled with bullet holes. The victim was taken to a local hospital for emergency surgery and was said to be in a serious condition in the intensive care unit.
Background and links to organised crime
Redmond was identified in the Spanish press as one of two British men arrested and still being investigated over an armed robbery at a cannabis club last year. He is said to have been allowed to leave prison on bail in November, around seven months after his arrest and detention.
Redmond originally comes from Bootle and was served a gang injunction by a Merseyside court in the mid-2010s due to his suspected involvement in organised crime on south Sefton. He later featured in a Merseyside Police most wanted list for breaching the injunction and failing to attend court in relation to alleged drugs offences.
The ECHO understands the shooting of Redmond is linked to the killing of a 29-year-old British man whose body was discovered at a housing development in the Campoamor area of Alicante. The victim's body was reported to have been found with several bullet wounds on December 21, but the Spanish police did not confirm the investigation until days after Christmas. A source has told the ECHO that the shootings are linked to British and Irish organised drug gangs in the Vega Baja area of Alicante.
