to which I must now turn, I am satisfied that Mr. Osman
cannot show that the decision of the Secretary of State was
improperly taken.
2. The manner in which Mr. Osman's covering letter was
dealt with by the Home Office was in breach of natural
justice. I am not happy about this. It had been made
clear to Mr. Osman that the letter should be delivered
earlier than it was and it is perhaps surprising that if he
wished to submit a covering letter, he had not commenced
work on it earlier.
Furthermore, Mr. Underwood says in his
second affidavit that he had informed Mr. Osman's
solicitors that the letter should be given to the Governor
of Brixton Prison no later than 5.00 p.m. on Saturday 13th
June, 1992, so that there was an opportunity for the staff
in the Extradition Unit to consider the letter before the
Representations were presented to the Home Secretary on
Monday 15th June, 1992.
However, it would have been
preferable if arrangements had been made to enable the
letter to be received and seen by the Secretary of State
16