Britain has appointed its first ever liaison magistrate to Romania, a prosecutor who has decades of international experience of investigating organized crime.
John Williams was a specialist prosecutor with the International Justice and Organized Crime Division of the Crown Prosecution Service where he dealt with a wide range of offenses for 30 years.
Williams was on the prosecution team that investigated a dark web drug dealer who was convicted after rebooting the notorious trading website Silk Road, which was shut down by the FBI in 2013.
The dealer, Thomas White, played the leading role in resurrecting the website, where anonymous users bought and sold drugs, and negotiated other criminal activities using online currencies.
White also admitted supplying class A drugs, money laundering and the possession of 464 indecent images of children of category A on another encrypted laptop seized at his home. He was jailed for 5 years and four months in April 2019.
Williams took up his position in Bucharest at the beginning of February. The British embassy said he will work closely with the Romanian justice ministry.
He will provide international assistance on cases involving Britain and Romania on “key areas of international cooperation,” a statement said.
His appointment underscores strong bilateral links between the countries.
