A SCOT fighting extradition to Taiwan following a fatal hit and run he was convicted off is facing a fresh court bid to have him sent back to the

country.

The High Court in Edinburgh will rule on whether Zain Dean will become the subject of Taiwan's first ever extradition case after the Lord Advocate successfully appealed a previous decision to allow him to remain in the UK.

James Wolffe, who was representing Taiwanese judicial authorities, argued appeal judges had wrongly ruled the 45-year-old's life would potentially face dangers from fellow inmates if he were sent to a prison on the island.

Mr Dean fled Taiwan in 2012 after he was found guilty of drunkenly crashing his car into a newspaper vendor’s scooter. Huang Jun-de, 31, died from head injuries and a court in Taipei sentenced him to four years in prison for manslaughter.

While on bail he absconded to Scotland using a friend's passport and set up home in Edinburgh changing his name by deed poll to Callum Rafael Scott.

He had been living in the capital for over a year before he was arrested by police in October 2013, serving over two-and-a-half years at HMP Edinburgh.

Last year at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh, Mr Dean's legal team successfully argued that sending the businessman back to the country contravened the European Convention on Human Rights because prison conditions in Taiwan were poor and that Dean was under threat of attack.

But on Wednesday the Supreme Court ruled out attempts by Mr Dean's legal team to block the Lord Advocate's appeal and sent the case back to the High Court to consider.

Lord Hodge rejected claims the Manchester-born fugitive, who spent 19 years living in Taiwan, would be kept in unreasonable conditions, with retired professor of criminal justice at Glasgow Caledonian University, James McManus, sent to inspect the facilities.

Lord Hodge said: "This is the first occasion on which Taiwan has sought to extradite a United Kingdom citizen and the memorandum of understanding and the assurances are therefore untested; but that novelty is significantly outweighed by other factors which I have mentioned.

"I cannot judge in advance the extent to which Mr Dean's fear of being harmed by other prisoners will prevent him from mixing with them. But there is no evidence to support an inference that the Taiwanese authorities will not giver him reasonable protection against harm at the hands of other prisoners.

"I am therefore satisfied that the assurances of the Taiwanese authorities offer Mr Dean reasonable protection against violence by non-state actors and that the circumstances of his confinement, should he be unable to mix with the wider prison population, do not entail a real risk of his being subject to treatment that infringes article 3 of the Convention."

Where he returned to Taiwan Mr Dean would have to serve around 13 months in jail and could be eligible for parole within nine months.

He admits to drinking on the night of the collision but insists he paid a nightclub employee to drive him home to the apartment he shared with his Taiwanese girlfriend, with CCTV footage understood to have emerged after the trial showing him getting into the passenger side of his black Mercedes before he was driven away from the club.

His arrest came just one day after Taiwan and the UK signed a memorandum of understanding on his extradition.

Mr Dean’s solicitor, Glasgow-based Graeme Brown, said the Supreme Court’s decision had been based on a particular legal point and that he would again contest the extradition when it comes again before the High Court.

Mr Brown added: “Mr Dean continues to challenge his extradition and also to deny the charge which he has been convicted of in Taiwan. His fight goes on.

“I spoke with him today after examining the judgement. Obviously this is a setback to his case. But it has still got quite some way to go before the matter is totally resolved. I will meet with Mr Dean in the coming days and discuss the next stage of his battle.”

In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it welcomed the decision by the Supreme Court and again expressed hope Mr Dean would be extradited.

A Crown Office spokesman said: "It would not be appropriate for the Crown to comment while proceedings are ongoing."