Edwin Holmes: Convicted UK sex offender whom WA Police wanted to extradite dies before he could face WA courts

A convicted UK sex offender whom WA Police wanted to extradite to face historical child sex offences has died before he could face justice in the WA courts. Edwin Holmes made headlines in the UK in 2017 after it emerged he had been invited out to dinner by a kind-hearted cashier who took pity on him. News reports at the time reveal how Holmes, who lived in the Yorkshire town of Leeds, turned up to the dinner in a suit and tie and gave the woman flowers. But little did that woman know Holmes had a dark criminal past, having been convicted in the UK of various sex offences over several decades including indecent assault, gross indecency and indecent exposure. Holmes became the subject of a major WA Police investigation in 2017 after a young woman came forward claiming she had been repeatedly sexually abused by him in Perth between 2008-2014. WA detectives from the child abuse squad had sought to extradite him to Western Australia on seven separate charges of indecent dealing with a child under 13. In 2020, Holmes was arrested in the UK on an international arrest warrant and was brought before the UK courts the following year for an extradition hearing. Last year, a UK Judge — who described Holmes as being of “bad character” — ruled the 92-year-old could be extradited back to WA to face the seven charges. “I have concluded that the factors against extradition are outweighed by those in favour,” Judge Nicholas Rimmer said at the time, adding: “The interference with his private life is proportionate to the public interest in his extradition, and it would neither be unjust nor oppressive to extradite him.” But Holmes’ legal team lodged an appeal against the judge’s ruling, meaning he remained free on bail in the UK until the appeal proceedings had finished. This week, Holmes’ UK-based barrister Natasha Draycott told The West Australian her client died in the UK on February 27 — meaning his alleged WA victim will never get her day in court. “He died of natural causes whilst on bail and the proceedings will now conclude,” Ms Draycott told The West. During the 2021 extradition hearing Holmes’ lawyers had argued his elderly age and ill health meant his extradition might be seen as “unjust” or “oppressive.” His lawyers had also raised “serious concerns about the ability of the Australian prison system” to treat him should he end up in a WA jail cell. But the court also heard he was in reasonable physical health, was still able to drive and was mostly self-sufficient. Court documents released during last year’s extradition proceedings show Holmes had convictions for sex crimes in the UK. In 1956, he was convicted of two offences of indecent assault on a woman and one count of public nuisance (indecent exposure). In 1967, he was convicted of a further two offences of indecent assault on a girl under 14, for which he was fined, and then in 1981, he was fined once again for gross indecency.