Hi there
Back in July I served 6 weeks in jail. When released I was told among other thing that I should not travel outside the uk unless allowed by my supervising officer.
I am not a UK national and following my release could not find a job so was living on benefit. I tried to convince my supervising officer to allow me to leave the UK.
In October I felt I was going nowhere and went back to my home country (France)
This is to keep it short; I wrote a longer version of my story on this forum when trying to weight the pro and con of leaving without being authorized.
Now I would like to travel within the EU and wonder how likely I am to be arrested while traveling through borders within EU ?
Also how can I find if there is an european arrest warrant on my name ?

Thanks in advance for your answer. If you do not know the answer but can point me to the right direction please do so.
Kind regards

Nestor

Hi Nestor, I seem to remember that probation were uncertain about whether you would be under the new supervision law. Did that ever get sorted out? If they were OK with you leaving, then there shouldn't be a problem. If they didn't give permission, then there might be a warrant, but according to Wikipedia (not always 100% accurate, allegedly), as you have already been sentenced, they can only issue a warrant if your custodial sentence was 4 months or more. I don't know what your total sentence was, but if it was less than 4 months, there shouldn't be a warrant for you. If your total sentence was 4 months or more, then the easiest way to find out would be to ask your local police, as they will have a record of it. Of course, they would probably arrest you and send you back to the UK, but if probation weren't actually sure you should still be under supervision, they might have trouble justifying their action. In fact, in some court cases, it seems the court has just reduced the supervision rather than waste time and money sending someone to prison, or giving them a fine they can't pay.

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If you are to punish a man retributively you must injure him. If you are to reform him you must improve him. And men are not improved by injuries. (George Bernard Shaw)

Thanks AB2014. In September I wrote twice to probation asking for a clarification about my situation.  Early October my probation officer told me over the phone that I would be under the new supervision law. When I asked why my letter did not get a written answer she told me that I would get an answer in good time. 
My sentence was 12 weeks and I did 6 weeks. So if Wikipedia is reliable there should not be a warrant.  I would like to know for sure what my my situation is though.

 

As I said before, if there is an EAW against you, then your local police will know about it, as it would be their job to carry it out. From what I remember of living in France, they know where everyone lives, so they know where you live. If they haven't come looking for you, then it's probably because there isn't a warrant. Having said that, as you are in France, you are within the Schengen zone, so you shouldn't really be checked when travelling anywhere within the zone. If you leave it, that might be a different matter, especially when you then return.

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If you are to punish a man retributively you must injure him. If you are to reform him you must improve him. And men are not improved by injuries. (George Bernard Shaw)

In fact i am a home owner in France and have been registered at this address for more than 15 years. My worried was that while they issued an arrest warrant they did not really bother looking for me as I am probably not classified as a dangerous criminal. Then as long as I remained in France I would have been left alone but could face the risk of being arrested while travelling. Now I am in Bulgaria which is outside the Schengen zone and despite the border guard staring at his computer for 2 minutes after scanning my passport I went through. I am not sure why and it might just be normal procedure as few years ago I traveled to Romania and I remember the border guard as being rather fussy. At this time I thought it was because I was French travelling from the UK.  Now you mentioned that it might be riskier on the way back. Why is that ? 
Also before leaving France I applied for a 'Casier Judiciare' in France, which is kind of the equivalent of DBS in the UK, and there is absolutely nothing on it.  I see two reason for that. Either there hasn't been communication between UK and France or my crime does not exist in France. I tend to believe the later is right. I have yet to consult a lawyer in France to find out. 
I would like to find out what is my situation exactly. Could you suggest the best way to find out ? I have considered writing to Probation but as I tried while in the UK to have a written explanation as to if and why I was on licence the only answer I ever got was over the phone : 'You will know in a timely manners". 

Thanks

Hi Nestor. There is information about European Arrest Warrants online here. If your UK conviction is not on your French record, it may well not be an offence in France, but that doesn't always prevent a warrant from being issued. Re-entering the Schengen Area is more risky than moving around inside it because there may well be a passport check. If you fly into the Schengen Area, there should be a check at the departure airport, which might get you arrested while your case is investigated. Of course, if there is no warrant, they would have no reason to stop you.

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If you are to punish a man retributively you must injure him. If you are to reform him you must improve him. And men are not improved by injuries. (George Bernard Shaw)