18/02/2013 Inside Out South

Hello from Dorchester and welcome to Inside Out. Plenty on the

programme tonight. Coming up: the Dorset man banged up in Budapest

but without being charged. How just is the justice system abroad?

danger for all of us who are citizens of the United Kingdom is

that we are all open to a prosecutor in an eastern European

country. The protections for the individual that we in Britain take

for granted disappear. Run down and closed how communities

across the self are refusing to call time on their parts. They do

not want to save them they want to buy them. For the first time I have

suddenly felt a real community spirit that I have never felt

before. An Thomas Hardy expert Tony walks

fruit Wessex meeting modern-day versions of hardy's best loved

characters. I must admit I never read any of his books. I have

watched far from the madding crowd which I loved because of the

landscape, the sheep and the shepherd character. This is Inside

First tonight, European arrest warrants. It is supposed to be a

fast-track way of getting one person from one European country to

another in order to stand trial or serve a prison sentence, but as one

man has found a, Darryl concerns of the system itself is being misused.

Budapest, November last year. Michael Turner and his ex business

partner Jason McGoldrick have been found guilty of fraud. Allegations

they deny. Summing up, the judge says although guilty they are not

criminals and should not have a criminal record. This case has

taken seven years to reach court, for months of which Michael and

Dixon were locked away in an ex KGB prison without being charged under

the powers of the European Arrest Warrant. Treatment the campaigners

believe more appropriate for terrorists, murderers and rapists.

It is a completely inappropriate use of the European arrest warrants.

The danger for us is that we are all open to a prosecutor in an

eastern European country. The protections for the individual that

we take for granted here all disappear. Six months ago at the

Castle Inn. The landlord is raising money for his son's continuing

legal battle. Seven years earlier, Mike and Jason were running a

marketing company in Hungary called Dream Espana, offering holidays in

the Canary Islands. After two years of trading, the company collapsed

leaving behind a debt of �18,000. They say they returned to the UK

under the impression they had followed all of the legal

requirements of winding down the business. Three years ago, their

story took a remarkable turn. when on holiday with my wife to

Monaco. She was heavily pregnant at the time. We arrived back in the UK

after a fantastic time and at passport control, they arrested me.

I got a phone call from Jason who rang me and said that there is a

European Arrest Warrant out in your name. Shocked certain straight away.

What is this? You instantly think in the men at a policeman will

arrests may. A I had never heard of the European Arrest Warrant. I

thought why would they want to arrest Michael? The European Arrest

Warrant was intended to be used explicitly to extradite people to

serve a prison sentence or for the purposes of a criminal prosecution.

But in Michael and Jason's case, a warrant had been served even though

no decision had yet been made to prosecute. In 2001, the man lost a

High Court battle to avoid extradition and had no choice but

to hand themselves over. One and we got here Gatwick and we met the

Hungarian authorities, that is when the nightmare began. It was one of

the darkest days of my life. They wanted to search us and handcuff us,

which they did. They believed and so did the police when we arrived

on the other side, they believed we had been caught and handed over.

They were prepared as if they were taking back desperate criminals.

When they realised they were cameras present, the Hungarian

officers took out balaclavas to cover their faces. We were

surrounded by dozens of armed police officers with dogs who

cordoned off the entire section of the airport. We sat at the back of

a plane. It was cordoned off. We were told not to speak one word. It

was not a nice situation. We were attached with a dog lead each and

paraded through all of the travellers on holidaymakers waiting

for their luggage. That will always stick out in my mind because it was

terrifying and embarrassing. That is when it all sank in that we knew

we had handed ourselves over but there was no transfer of trust. As

soon as we got to Hungary we were caught criminals. It was quite a

horrible feeling. We have concerns about the decision to use these

extradition proceedings against Michael and Jason. It seems to us

incredibly disproportionate for such minor allegations to go to the

cost and put people through the ordeal of extradition proceedings,

being shipped off to a foreign country and they have should have

used other British things such as working with the police.

Rather than being questioned, Mike and Jason were separated and locked

up. We were taken to a police holding cell in the heart of the

city and locked away in a very dark room with no ventilation, no taps,

no toilet for three days separately. I think the first day was pretty

low. We were refused a telephone call home, and they tried to get

asked to sign paperwork when we arrived and we refused without our

lawyer. It was a very tough situation. Are I was given

assurances by the lead officer from Hungary that an Interpol officer, I

was given assurances that when they got too hungry they would be able

to phone straight away and let you know where they were. That is their

right, they insisted. That did not happen. We had nothing. A I did not

understand what the extradition, what the European Arrest Warrant

requested from us. I believed at that time that I was going to spend

two-23 years in that one room without seeing the outside world.

No contact with anyone, but was the worst moment. Three days later,

they were taken to court where they assumed they would be released on

bail but the judge thought differently. Instead they were

transferred to a former KGB high- security prison while their case

was investigated. We arrived at 3 o'clock in the morning. We saw the

room and we think, is the bucket the toilet? You really are lost.

was so small it was ridiculous. Just a square room. No room to move.

No room at all. My core and Jason did not need to be put in prison

but they certainly did not to be put in those appalling conditions.

Being locked in your cell for 23 hours a day is up inhuman. They did

not pose any danger to other prisoners. You do start to lose

your marbles because you have nothing to do. It is shocking to

the system. That is why some countries use pre-trial detention

as a way to persuade people to plead guilty and you can't help to

suspect that was the intention here. Constant noise, a constant

screaming, shouting. You could hear guards are beating people. It was

just an awful place. Awful, awful place. There was a fictional

character that was bandied about the prison. It was a guy who was

going to get you and they used to taunt me with this fictional

character all the time. High had to think, next week, I am getting out.

In the next few days something will happen and I will get out. Michael

and Jason were eventually released from prison after 115 days without

charge. Two years later the trial has finally finished and the guilty

verdict is sinking in. A I am deeply shocked by the decision

today by the judge. A little bit confused because everything is done

in Hungarian so why do not know the exact details of his summing up but

I have three days to consider whether I will appeal the decision.

Michael did decide to appeal despite the judge stating the man

were not to be seen as criminals, he is determined to clear his name.

It in the UK if the case were to be brought at all it would come up in

the small claims court. The real issue is the misuse of the European

Arrest Warrant. The Hungarian Authority said everything had been

done by the book and neither man had complained during their

detention. I think it is cases like this which really gets the

politicians to focus on the laws they are signing up to and I hope

the terrible experience that these men have been through all

demonstrate the need to fax our extradition laws because people

should not be put through the Don't forget, if you have this

story you want us to look into, please drop as any meal. Pubs in

this out there having a rough time. Sadly, hundreds more are expected

to close in the next year. Not all communities are prepared for time

to be called. They want to buy at pts. The one to buy their pub. --

they want to. Nowadays, this is an all too common a sight. Pubs run

down and closed, looking like they can't possibly have a viable future.

Like the Tumbledown Dick in Farnborough, which has definitely

seen better days. Situated on the main route from Portsmouth to

London, it's been a coaching inn and pub for hundreds of years. In

more recent years, up and coming bands like the Jam played gigs here.

But it's been closed for five years and now the owners are selling it.

This much-loved watering hole may soon be another burger bar. But in

Farnborough they don't give up so easily and the locals aren't

letting their pub go without a fight. For the first time in my

before. This pub has been part of our heritage since Farnborough was

built. Every generation feel an attachment to it. It was Fran

Beauchamp who started the campaign to save the pub and says she now

has 3,000 supporters determined not let it into another fast food

restaurant. You only need to look around and see what the town looks

like, and it is depressing. We pay a lot of money to live in this area

and there was nothing for anyone to do. Generations of her family have

gone there. We love the place. It was like a second home. You go in

there and it is like a big lounge full of all your friends. Scott

Fitzpatrick even met his wife at the Tumbledown Dick and their baby,

Brook, has joined them on the demo. We both held that the so close to

our hearts and that that was still open it would have been our choice

for going back after the wedding for the party. Pubs have been hit

by a Perfect Storm. Competition from the supermarkets who sell much

cheaper alcohol. The smoking ban. Less in comes in families. And so

these tied arrangements between their pubs and the brewers.

it's not over yet for the Tumbledown Dick. The campaigners

want to make an alternative bid to McDonalds and run the pub as a

community venue. So, they've asked the council to list it as an asset

of community value, which could help their cause, but will it be

listed? This is the Seven Stars in Marsh Baldon in Oxfordshire. When

it closed the villagers decided they wanted to save it. Luckily for

them, the owner was happy to sell it at a price they could afford,

just over �250,000. Everyone here put their hands in their pockets to

help buy their pub. We felt it was much more likely to do well if the

Community were involved, if everyone pitched in. It is the

heart of the village. It is were everybody meets an comes together.

It is lovely walking in here on a Friday night, it is like walking

into a big party. The community is so diverse and it has brought

everybody together. Everybody is on the same page and wants to get it

open. The village has formed what essentially is a community company.

Anyone can invest anything from �300 to �20,000. You might get a 2%

return. The company then employs some to run the pub. Villagers

believe getting the right landlord will be the key to its success..

You need someone who has a smiling face, and says, do you want your

usual? I think most villagers would like that. Things are moving very

fast. They're already interviewing prospective landlords. In two

weeks' time, the villagers hope to be the proud owners of the Seven

Stars. Communities saving their pub is something that's happening all

over. This is the Plough just eight miles away in Great Hasely, and

here the beer is flowing again. Over 120 villagers raised the

�400,000 to buy it when it closed, so many of the drinkers here

actually own shares in their pub. They won't get rich, but that's not

what it's about. The people who put the money into the pub will not get

a commercial return. You are making this Investment with your heart,

not your head, because it will not give you a nice income. Peter says

the knowledge they've built up is now a blueprint for other villages

wanting to do the same Back in Farnborough, campaigners are still

hoping they can save their pub. get two calls a week, asking how

did you do it? A village near by has just bought their pub, and they

used Oliver Documentation. I think we're all sharing the information

and more and more people, more villagers, will get the opportunity

to buy their pub. It has now been listed as a community asset, which

means that if McDonalds don't get planning permission, they'll have

six months to put in their own bid to buy it. Now the whole -- now the

real hard work begins! We have to fund raised. This is about

something new that Farnborough or has an experienced -- that

Farnborough hasn't experienced very often, and that is the community

spirit. This is going to be a building run by the community, for

the community. As far as I am concerned, it is worth every bit of

The don't forget, you can comment on anything on tonight's show on

Twitter. Now, to cast a bridge, the very heart of hardy's Wessex. Watch

this, and I guarantee you will want to be far from the Madding crowd

exploring the famous countryside, just like Tony Fincham, at Thomas

Hardy expert. 1967 and the hills of Dorset are alive with the film crew

turning Thomas Hardy's best-known book into a classic. I have been

passionate about Thomas Hardy all my life. When Farmer Oak smiled,

the corners of his might spread to be were within an unimportant

distance of his ears. His eyes were reduced to mere chinks. My

grandfather was a founding member of the Hardy Society. For the past

five years I have been German. That would like the introduce you to

some of the people and places from Hardy's life and literature. We are

starting in the obvious place, the cottage where he was born in June

1840. I am going to take key for a walk through Hardy countryside. A

journey will take us through the real places which inspired Thomas

Hardy and we will meet the people living in his landscape now. First,

is it generation shepherd Sue Elsworth, who lives alike straight

out of a Hardy novel. I have never read any of his books. I watched

Far From the Madding crowd, I love that film. I think it is because of

the landscape, the sheep and the shepherd character. Other than that,

I can't say that I have read any of his books. In Thomas Hardy's Day,

they were 500,000 cheapen Dorset, now there are just a third of that

number. I have always done freelance shepherding. They used a

lamp for different people from November through to May. I haven't

got enough sheep to live off them. There is no money in its. You do it

for the love of it. That is all how it -- all I have done it for, ever.

This is the situation where Thomas Hardy set one of his farms. Just

close the here, their awesome drop pits. But is were Gabriel's sheep

were chased. The landscape she is working in his little changed since

Hardy wrote about it 140 years ago. No electric here! I suppose that is

a bit like Thomas Hardy's days! I just love the sheep. I love working

outdoors, no matter the weather. I like being on my own. Me and the

dogs and sheep, I am happy. Thomas Hardy based his novels and poems on

what he called his spark real, part dream landscape of Wessex. What I

like about this area is this is the group that Thomas Hardy followed to

school on to the town of Dorchester, which he renamed cast a bridge.

Over the hill from here is Duck Dairy Farm. Hardy fans are

constantly knocking on the door as if following his literary footsteps.

I am delighted here to find a working stonemason, a real-life

Jude the obscure. We have had visitors, people have called by

looking for hardy's cottage up the road. So, they say, this is the

dairy! They have to explain to us the history! Coming here from Kent,

I had no idea about Thomas Hardy and the connection. Quite often a

group of people will come round and tell us their history, and I think

it is quite interesting for these people still to be out here

carrying on. Earning a living the same way as a character from a 19th

century novel was not easy then, and it certainly isn't now. Despite

love and what we do, it is quite difficult to make a living. If

you're wanting to stick with your hammer and chisel, it takes a lot

longer. In the past, labour costs weren't so high so it didn't matter

as much. I don't think a stonemason has ever been particularly rich!

The words of the stonemason who taught him, ring in his ears.

said, the couple who carved together, star of together! This

estate is now an agricultural college, but in the day up Thomas

Hardy it was the home of a beautiful dairy maid he took his

fancy ants inspired Test of the Dervock bills. On from here we go

over the breach and the flooded water meadows. Nearing the final

chapter of our brief literary journey. We enter walk at the

church, the place Thomas Hardy remains, and the centre of the

universe or Thomas Hardy enthusiasts like me. Here we find

Bill, who knows what the real people behind the fictional

characters are laid to rest. this churchyard, apart from the

Hardy family, all the local people are buried who featured in Under

the Greenwood Tree. We have funny heard him for example, he died when

she was just 20. She was a teenage girl with Thomas Hardy in the same

school. Not only his bill at Thomas Hardy fan, he once lived in the

house that Thomas Hardy designed and had built. I am Dorset born-

and-bred. We have the connection to go and give in hardy's House, just

a mile away. This is a photo of Thomas Hardy and his wife, Emma,

and bases Bill, his wife and son. we had a lease on there for 21

years. We loved every minute of it. Thomas Hardy died in 1928. He had

wished to be buried with his first wife, Emma. By public demand his

ashes were placed in Port corner at Westminster Abbey, but his heart

was buried in Wessex in the heart of the landscape he loves,

surrounded by the people he wrote A variety of people from the

countryside in those days are buried in this churchyard. This was

his favoured ground. He came here, worship here, his family was here,

he is buried here. There is something very peaceful about this

place. Some beautiful Thomas Hardy country