A dangerous English fugitive was extradited to Australia today, found and arrested on March 21 last in a joint operation conducted by the Interpol Division of the International Police Cooperation Service (SCIP), operational division of the Central Directorate of the Criminal Police led by Prefect Vittorio Rizzi, and by the military of the Tenenza and Naval Operations Section of the Guardia di Finanza of Caorle (VE).
Operation that once again underlines the effectiveness of Italian law enforcement in locating fugitives sought at international level, thanks to the close collaboration of SCIP with the territorial investigative offices of all the police forces.
British citizen BATHAM Charles Gordon, born on 23.04.1944 in Belfast / Ireland, aka SHANNON Charles Edwin, was internationally wanted for extradition purposes by the Australian authorities because he was hit by three arrest warrants issued on 18 October 2012 by the Perth Court (Australia) in relation to 28 legal proceedings for crimes of sexual violence against two children under the age of 13 committed from 2002 to 2010, as well as in relation to four counts of instigation and incitement to child prostitution and possession child pornography material disseminated via a computer network, committed between 2010 and 2011, with a maximum penalty of 20 years of imprisonment.
BATHAM was arrested in Western Australia on February 4, 2011 but subsequently released on bail.
On February 21 of the same year he fled Australia and found refuge in England, where two months later he was tracked down by the Sussex police in a camper where he lived under the false identity of SHANNON Charles Edwin.
He then fled the UK by moving to Calais, France, and subsequently opened a bank account in Fethiye, Turkey again using the same alias.
In 2013, the Turkish authorities, following an extradition request presented by the Australian ones, arrested BATHAM, released again on bail and fled again, causing him to be lost.
The SCIP worked on the request for cooperation from the Australian Authorities, which is a joint body which in Italy is the only point of contact for international police cooperation and which guarantees a constant global info-operational exchange, relying on a network of Security Experts abroad, operating in over sixty countries around the world.
The decisive factor was the fact that the fugitive, holder of an airplane pilot patent, was reported in 2016 by the Guardia di Finanza for the counterfeiting of the identification documents of the aircraft, with consequent seizure of the vehicle. This seizure order had recently failed and the plane had been returned to a delegate of the fugitive.
Hence further investigations that made it possible to locate the BATHAM which, due to the health emergency due to the pandemic and the consequent traffic bans, lived in the city of Caorle, in the province of Venice, in the same camper in which it was traced in the territory British and where he was arrested by the military of the Guardia di Finanza activated by the SCIP.
The Australian authorities have sent an official letter in which, in underlining the solid collaboration with Italy and in congratulating the capture of the dangerous fugitive, they expressed deep gratitude for having allowed to ensure justice to the two young victims, overcoming all the related difficulties. to the ongoing pandemic.
Australian police officers arrived specifically at Milan Malpensa to take over the fugitive and escort him during the return flight to Australia, up to Perth.