UK appoints its first ever Liaison Magistrate to Romania

The UK has appointed its first ever Liaison Magistrate to Romania. John Williams took up his position in Bucharest at the beginning of February and will work closely with the Romanian Ministry of Justice, the British Embassy in Bucharest announced in a press release.

John Williams was a Specialist Prosecutor with the International Justice and Organized Crime Division of the Crown Prosecution Service where he has dealt with a wide range of offences for 30 years.

He will be providing international casework assistance between the UK and Romania on a number of key areas of international cooperation.

His appointment is a further example of the strong bilateral relationship between the UK and Romania, according to the Embassy’s press release.

However, this appointment could also show an increased interest of the British authorities to follow the evolution of investigations carried out by the Romanian prosecutors in cases involving crimes committed by Romanians in the UK.

Last year, 25 defendants investigated for running a human trafficking network in the UK were acquitted because the Romanian prosecutors running the case failed to send it to court in due time.

There are currently over 500,000 Romanians living in the UK, the second-biggest community of immigrants after the Poles.

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