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A businessman was shot dead in the bar of his 5-star hotel in Albania three years ago
Two men and a woman from Bristol, accused of plotting to murder a prominent businessman at his tourist hotel in Albania, cannot be extradited after a hearing at the Court of Appeal.
Steven Hunt, 52; Thomas Mithan, 37; and Harriet Bridgeman, 30, all from Bristol, along with Harry Simpson, 35, from South London, are accused, along with Edmond Haxhia, 40, a British-Albanian from Birmingham, of organizing an attack on businessman Ardian Nikulaj in the bar of his five-star hotel in Albania in 2023.
Albanian prosecutors alleged that Hunt, Mithan, Bridgeman and Simpson were involved in observing the victim's movements in the days leading up to the shooting and, in Simpson's case, on the day of the attack, and that each of them played a role in planning and executing the murder.
The assassination is suspected of being part of a 25-year blood feud between Haxhia's relatives and those of the victim, which is alleged to have started with another murder in 1997. All four defendants deny the charges, British media reports .
The conflict, which has lasted for nearly three decades, has already claimed seven lives and is alleged to have started over a dispute over money.
Bridgeman, Hunt, Mithan and Haxhia were arrested in Bristol and Birmingham in April 2023, on the basis of international arrest warrants from Albania, just days after the murder.
The shooter, Ruben Saraiva, a British resident of Portuguese origin who grew up in Reading, Berkshire, from the age of four, was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
Shocking footage from security cameras at the April 2023 event shows the moment when Saraiva, dressed as a courier, carried out the attack with a Soviet-made automatic pistol and then fled the scene.
All five defendants denied the charges and, in August 2024, after a full extradition hearing, District Judge Daniel Sternberg ruled that Bridgeman, Mithan, Simpson and Haxhia be sent to Albania.
In his decision he stated: “The Government of Albania alleges that Edmond Haxhia organized the murder of Ardian Nikulaj by Reuben Saraiva on 19 April 2023 and that the other wanted persons, Steven Hunt, Thomas Mithan, Harriet Bridgeman and Harry Simpson, were involved in observing the victim’s movements in the days leading up to the shooting and, in Simpson’s case, on the day of the attack, and that each of them played a role in the planning and execution of the murder.”
He referred the matter to the then Home Secretary for a final decision, who also approved the extradition.
However, all five opposed extradition at a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court in October last year, after the Home Office admitted to Albanian authorities in August 2025 that it had made a potentially serious error that could affect the proceedings.
According to a report by the Daily Mail, the extradition request was amended during the proceedings, so the initial certification by the Home Secretary before the hearing was no longer valid.
The extradition order stated that all the suspects had been charged in Albania with illegal possession of weapons and ammunition, as well as murder. However, in September 2023, Albanian authorities dropped the weapons charges, replacing them with charges of “premeditated murder.”
Judge Justice Swift said the case sent by the district judge to the Secretary of State “was based on an extradition request that had not been lodged with the Secretary of State”.
He added that “taking these matters together, it results that this ground of appeal is allowed and, with it, the appeals of each appellant are allowed. It was not possible for the District Judge to send a case for extradition to the Secretary of State which did not correspond in any part to the request certified by the Secretary of State under section 70 of the Extradition Act 2003.”
A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said: “The court allowed the appeals on the basis that the applications considered by the lower court were not valid and quashed the extradition orders.
“Notice has been given on behalf of the Republic of Albania of its intention to seek leave to appeal to the High Court, pursuant to section 114 of the Extradition Act 2003. Any application for leave to appeal will be made in accordance with the statutory deadlines. It is not appropriate to comment further while the proceedings are still ongoing,” he said. / Pamphlet /
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