A British judge has prevented the extradition of a convicted Romanian gangster who runs a children’s fight club in London, ruling that sending him home would breach his right to family life despite nine-year prison sentences awaiting him.
Adrian Preda, 44, will remain in the UK operating his “Preda Fight Club” gym in Kingsbury, north west London, after District Judge Kevin Grego determined his removal would place an unacceptable burden on his wife and three children aged 12, nine and eight.
The judge wrote in his judgment that Preda’s wife “feels there is no option other than her returning to Romania with the children if he is extradited.” She stated she would not be able to maintain their home in the UK and the children would not be able to travel back and forth to visit their father, “who up to now has been ever-present and hands-on as a parent.”
Romania issued a fresh European Arrest Warrant in 2024 seeking Preda’s return to serve multiple sentences for violent offences including the attempted murders of two men, attacking and injuring two police officers with objects during a nightclub brawl in Bucharest, and belonging to the notorious Sportivii crime gang.
The National Crime Agency extradition unit arrested Preda last year, triggering fresh proceedings at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. However, Judge Grego’s ruling marks the second time British courts have blocked Romania’s attempts to bring the convicted criminal home.
In April 2018, District Judge Robin McPhee discharged an earlier extradition request, telling Preda he was “free to go” because “overcrowded jails” in Romania might breach his human rights through potentially “degrading” treatment. That decision allowed Preda to establish business interests in the UK including his mixed martial arts gym.
Romanian news reports indicate the wider Sportivii gang Preda belonged to trafficked £2 million worth of heroin, stole machine guns and pistols from a Romanian army base, and opened fire on rivals in the streets of Bucharest.
Preda had received a nine-year sentence after his convictions but was released on bail to appeal. Instead, he fled to London where he has remained, teaching mixed martial arts to children and adults. Footage posted on social media shows the 44-year-old, who once fought controversial influencer Tristan Tate in a cage bout, putting children through training at the gym located in an industrial unit.
Judge Grego acknowledged Romania has now provided assurances over prison conditions Preda would be held in, meaning this could no longer prevent extradition on human rights grounds. However, the family life considerations proved decisive.
Preda claims he was prosecuted due to corruption and insists he lives a crime-free life in the UK. His legal team successfully argued that extradition would disproportionately interfere with his Article 8 rights to private and family life.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp MP condemned the decision, stating: “It is a disgrace that because of the ECHR, we cannot deport a dangerous foreign national offender wanted for a series of violent offences and belonging to a criminal gang in Romania. This man should not be in our country.”
Philp added: “The next Conservative Government will leave the ECHR and ECAT and establish our removals force to increase the number of deportations to 150,000 a year through our BORDERS plan. We will deport every single foreign national offender and illegal immigrant, but Keir Starmer does not have the backbone to do this.”
Tim Loughton, former Tory MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, who raised concerns about the 2018 extradition refusal when he served on the Home Affairs Select Committee, criticized the latest ruling.
He stated: “It is cases like this that lead people to ask what planet some of our judges are on. This is a serious criminal legitimately convicted of dangerous crimes in a European democracy and ally. There is no way he should continue to be free to roam the streets in the UK in defiance of due legal process from Romanian law enforcement agencies.”
Loughton added: “Inconvenience and upheaval to family members should in no way be seen as a stay out of jail card and we should hand him over to the Romanian authorities as a matter of urgency. If his family chooses to go with him is a matter for them and not for a British judge to regard as a veto on justice.”
The ruling allows Preda to continue operating his fight club in north west London whilst Romania’s attempts to enforce his criminal sentences remain blocked by British courts’ interpretation of human rights law.
