Confusion as England fans arrested during Euro 2004 rampage say they will not attend trial set to start in Albufeira tomorrow

Huge confusion surrounds the trial of three England football fans, due to start in Albufeira tomorrow (July 1).
The men – none of whom are believed to be on their way to Portugal – were among dozens arrested for hooliganism which broke out in the town over several nights of the Euro 2004 championship.
Along with countless others, they were deported and informed on arrival back in England that that was an end to the matter.
Now, after just over a decade, they have been summoned to Portugal to face charges of hooliganism.
According to Sky News reporter Martin Brunt, all three men have been taken by surprise, as has the Home Office.
What is even more puzzling is that 21 other fans arrested and deported at the same time have had their cases apparently dropped as “too much time has elapsed”.
Brunt reports that “Portuguese prosecutors have until December” to put Richard Freeman, Lewis Andrews and Wayne Finney on trial before time in their cases will also have elapsed.
Not surprisingly, none of the men have shown any inclination to leave England for Albufeira.
As builder Richard Freeman from Berkshire told Sky News: “It’s a farce. I’m certainly not going back to Portugal because they might arrest me. What chance would I have of a fair trial?”
Freeman further claims that he had nothing to do with the rioting in June of 2004. “I was walking back to my hotel. The police attacked me with batons,” he told Sky News.
Fair Trials International – the organisation that campaigned for the release of another fan caught up in the riots – suggests that all the men consult a Portuguese lawyer very quickly.
Their experience shows that the authorities here are not averse to using controversial fast-track extradition to get defendants to face justice. This happened in the case of fireman Garry Mann – who was extradited from UK six years after the riots, and after having been told he too faced no further charges. Mann was later jailed by the Portuguese courts for two years. It was a case that one British High Court judge called an embarrassment, but it is clearly one that will be in the minds of all three men now facing trial in Albufeira.
Sky’s Martin Brunt concluded that “we will just have to wait until the court convenes tomorrow to see what is on the minds of the Portuguese authorities”.
He did say, however, that it seems “extraordinary that they have acted now”, and over only three of the dozens of men deported for hooliganism 10 years ago.