Southsea church volunteer launches desperate bid to beat 'ludicrous' Greek extradition order over stolen car offence from his troubled past

Dad-of-one Andrew Campbell, who lives in Southsea, fears that a fateful trip to Europe more than 10 years ago will overturn his hard work to go from self-confessed ‘bum’ to being praised as a ‘wonderful’ member of the community.

Now his family hope to raise £15,000 for a Greek lawyer to battle his conviction over a stolen car in 2011.

Drinking heavily at the time and desperate to secure a home for himself and his pregnant partner, Andrew’s entanglement in the crime began when a friend introduced him to a potential landlord in Fratton.

The landlord arranged a flat in Portsmouth – alongside the request that Andrew return a car to the UK from Holland, where his journey would take a dark turn.

Arriving on the continent, Andrew was told by his contact that the pair’s trip was in fact onward to Lebanon, in order to sell a £30,000 Porsche 718 Cayman.

Only as the pair approached Greece did the contact reveal that the car was stolen, according to Andrew.

The pair were picked up by Greek police at the country’s border, and Andrew was locked up for three days and held with 20 other people with no access to a lawyer or a telephone call.

He fled the country after being moved to a hostel for holding before further court action.

A decade later, Andrew has quit drinking, developed a faith in Christianity and volunteered at churches across Southsea, and taken a more active role in his young son’s life – but his sense of normality was shattered by a European Arrest Warrant last year.

Convicted in Greece in his absence, Andrew was arrested by British police at his Southsea home in April 2021.

He said: ‘Five undercover officers burst in. I thought I was going to spend six years in prison in Greece.’

Addressing the ‘bad’ company he used to keep, he said: 'I'm a scapegoat in their operations.

‘That's what they do - they know when you're desperate. They prey on you when you're desperate. I was worried about my partner, I was worried about her being safe.

‘It was horrible, I wouldn't wish it on anyone.’

Andrew credits his transformation to his faith and his 10-year-old son, who is now anxious about his father’s fate.

Andrew said: 'I'm a dad now, I have to look after him. I'm here to protect him. He saw the tag on my ankle and he asked about it. When I told him, he was very sad. He asks all the time - 'is it today that dad's going away?’

Andrew’s faith has become his ‘absolute bedrock’ as he fights to have his extradition appealed, with a hearing set for November.

He said: 'I have changed. I am not that person I was in 2011 - I was a bum. I have turned around. I help whoever needs my help, I am there for them. Volunteering has been a Godsend.

Volunteering at St Swithun's Church in Waverley Road, Andrew has become ‘wonderful’ member of the team, according to Father Marcin Drabik, parish priest.

Writing in a witness statement to support Andrew’s appeals, Father Drabik said: ‘It is my great hope and prayer that (the judges) will look kindly on this wonderful young man, I cannot imagine the loss if he was to be incarcerated for any length of time for a misdemeanour which was in a period of his life where he was a vulnerable youth.

Mark Gray, a team leader at homeless and in-need charity Society of St James, said he had known Andrew for more than eight years and witnessed his ‘incredible’ journey.

Also writing in an appeal statement, he said: ‘I must express my deepest regret that after this man's incredible journey to have achieved such inner peace and becoming such a positive member of the community that an alleged crime from his past has come back to haunt him.

‘I am deeply concerned that this will have a detrimental impact on my friend as being extradited to another country and possibly facing incarcerations seems a cruel twist of fate to a man who suffered so much already.’

Now Andrew and his desperate family are trying to raise £15,000 for legal fees to fight the case in Greece

Mum Kate Stubbs said: 'He's not a criminal, he's a victim. It's just ludicrous.’

The lawyer in Greece has told the family that the driver of the stolen car was arrested last year and faces extradition from Italy.

Before their legal fight moves abroad, the family are hoping that one final UK court appeal in November will block the extradition.

The family are hoping to challenge Andrew’s deportation using grounds from the European Convention on Human Rights, which state that no one one shall be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

According to recent reports from The Committee for the Prevention of Torture of the Council of Europe, the Greek prison system is in a ‘dire’ state, with overcrowded prisons at 160 per cent capacity.

Despite the serious concerns about what may await him, Andrew said he is not feeling confident about his bid in the UK courts.

He said: 'I am prepared for the worst.'

The family’s fundraising campaign can be found at: gofund.me/5823f0a5