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    Extradited Briton Arrives At Texas Prison

    A retired British businessman is spending his first day in a Texas jail after he was extradited to the US to face charges that he illegally exported weapons parts to Iran.

    Christopher Tappin landed in Houston at 11pm GMT on Friday after flying in from Heathrow, according to reports.

    The 65-year-old, from Orpington in Kent, was handcuffed and seated between two US marshals during the flight.

    Tappin, who lost his two-year battle against extradition last week, will make his first court appearance in El Paso on Monday.

    Tappin's US lawyer Dan Cogdell said he would "vigorously argue" for his client to be released on bail.

    He said there was "no reasonable basis to believe that he is a flight risk or a danger" and has "no criminal record whatsoever".

    Before being forced to leave Britain under the controversial UK-US treaty, Tappin said he had been failed by the Government, branding the decision to extradite him as a "disgrace".

    He argued the radical cleric Abu Qatada, who poses a threat to the UK's national security, had more rights than him after being allowed to stay in the UK.

    "I look to (Prime Minister David) Cameron to look after my rights and he has failed to do so," he said.

    "I have no rights. Abu Qatada is walking the streets of London today and we cannot extradite him. He has more rights than I have.

    "If I was a terrorist, I would not be going to America. I think it's a shame, a disgrace.

    "The Conservative government, while in opposition, promised to reform the law and they failed to do so and they've let me down, they've let you down, they've let the whole country down."

    The Government has been blocked in its attempts to deport Qatada to Jordan , where he faces terror charges, after the European Court of Human Rights ruled further assurances that evidence gained through torture would not be used against him were needed before he could be sent back.

    But the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "They are completely different cases."

    Tappin could face up to 35 years in jail if convicted of selling batteries for Iranian missiles.

    The pensioner, whose tearful wife Elaine accompanied him to Heathrow before his flight, said he was full of trepidation but keen to prove his innocence.

    He added he was "not very confident at all" about his case, mainly because his UK-based witnesses will not travel to the US and the American authorities do not allow video interrogation.

    Tappin denies any wrongdoing and says he is the innocent victim of a sting operation by US agents.

    He was extradited under a controversial treaty signed off in 2003 by both the US and UK governments, which allows American prosecutors to demand British suspects are handed over without their cases ever being tested in a British court.

    His UK lawyer Karen Todner said Tappin will be remanded in an El Paso jail until Monday, pending a bail hearing at the US district court in the western district of Texas.

    She added it was "the procedure for the Americans to require three days adjournment to consider the bail application so the earliest he can consider obtaining bail is Thursday".

    Tappin's MP Jo Johnson and Ukip leader Nigel Farage have asked Home Secretary Theresa May to intervene to ensure the US authorities do not object to his bail
    on Monday.

    Mr Farage, who has known Tappin for nearly 40 years, said he had been treated "appallingly" by the British government.

    "They have done nothing to question whether he should face extradition to the US. Not one piece of evidence has been given to a British court," he said.

    In the longer term, Tappin and his legal advisers will have to weigh up whether to fight the allegations against him, which may drag on for years or come to some kind of plea-bargain deal with the authorities to speed up his return to the UK.

    Either way, his stay in the US penal system will be arduous for a pensioner, according to Ms Todner.

    "He'll be in a federal prison, which is different to a state prison, but he'll be in general population so there'll be no special area for him or anything like that," she said.

    "Basically, he'll be in a dormitory of about 400 men, all facing serious criminal charges."

    Tappin is not the first Briton to find himself extradited to the US under the current treaty.

    The so-called NatWest three were handed over to American prosecutors following the collapse of the Enron energy company and eventually had to cut a plea deal with the authorities to secure their freedom.

    Other cases such as the computer hacker Gary McKinnon, who allegedly hacked into US military systems and is fighting his extradition, are still going through the UK courts.

     
    • Ex Warrior  •  Liverpool, England  •  3 months ago
      When will CAMoron grow some balls, and stand up for the citizens he purports to represent???
      • geezer 3 months ago
        you cant grow your balls back if you never had them in the first place mate , the one PM we had with the biggest balls was maggie and she didnt even have any.
      • YeahMe 3 months ago
        SHUT UP LIMEYS!!!
      • The Kat 3 months ago
        Ignore 'Yeah Me' he's a silly school kid . A numpty
    • Fiona  •  Poole, England  •  3 months ago
      Jesus, this is just totally disgusting. I feel so terrible for this man - we the public should kick up such a stink to government that they actually do something about positive about it. I saw Hague interviewed on BBC News 24 yesterday going in to the conference on Syria. He offered one more question to reporters...but when the question related to Chris Tappin he refused to answer it, turned his back and walked away. SHAME ON YOU HAGUE. Pathetic.
      • YeahMe 3 months ago
        Fiona...another slave of the U.S. LoooooooooooooL!!!
      • geezer 3 months ago
        Yeahme another #$%$
      • rymanskid2 3 months ago
        like most in the government they are to busy grovelling to the yanks, there are only 2 hopes of them actually sticking up for this country that's No hope and Bob Hope
    • Barrie  •  3 months ago
      "Either way, his stay in the US penal system will be arduous for a pensioner, "
      There is definitely something very wrong with our Justice System when all our Government is prepared to do is sit back and watch it happen.
      This is even more outrageous when you consider we have paid £millions to terrorists to keep them "QUIET" and sit helplessly wringing our hands because the EU says we can't deport the likes of Abu Qatada.
      WHAT IS GOING ON ?????
      • Richard 3 months ago
        Well said and well supported
      • Kevin 3 months ago
        What we should be asking ourselves is "WHO is it that is profiting from this debacle"? Find them and get rid and of them!
    • Invictus  •  St Ives, England  •  3 months ago
      And yet we have Abu Qatada still residing in our country and on the loose. He's living in a luxury apartment in London all paid for by the British tax payer. I read it could take years to deport him. This country is a joke.
      • Kevin 3 months ago
        CORRECT! The UK has become a bloody joke!
      • taxed to death 3 months ago
        more like a spineless and cowardly one by these muppets we keep putting into no10...blair was the low life that signed this deal with the us [his masters]
      • U.N.I.T.Y 3 months ago
        You are presumed inocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
    • sam  •  Reading, England  •  3 months ago
      A terrorist on benefits who wishes to preach hate and blow up UK citizens cannot be extradited, yet a man who only did good for UK Plc GDP can. It is completely disgusting.
      • Believe in justice 3 months ago
        What good did he do? He is the same as Qatada...and in fact to make money he sold out his country. He deserves jail if the charges are true.
    • Ian  •  Hailsham, England  •  3 months ago
      All British goverments are the same,if the USA goverment say jump,the british goverment say how high !!! We have always been their puppet,and always will.Just shows what sort of people we vote into power,SPINELESS.
    • MIke 13  •  London, England  •  3 months ago
      ------ WHAT AMERICA WANTS AMERICA GETS-----
    • Craig templer  •  Birmingham, England  •  3 months ago
      if he did any crime then he should do jail in uk, if it is not classed as a crime in uk, then what the hell as it got to do with the yanks, we are not yanks, so how come they can drag us from our homeland and put us in there jails. this goverment is a disgrace, it should protect us not sell us out. time to get rid of them. terrorists can not be deported and roam our streets living on massive benefits, yet the true british people are being treated like s**t. the most hated person in uk is a single white british born male, you go to any houseing office etc etc and see how u get treated, its a bloody joke, you will end up on the street. yet we will be the ones called up on to defend this country when our goverment f****s up !!!!!
    • Tony  •  3 months ago
      I go to the US frequently and I can assure you there is no feeling of a 'special relationship' in the US, it is a one way relationship as British politicians live out their 'self-importance' fantasies. Who was not embarrassed to see William Hague almost wetting himself in excitement dashing off to the US within 48 hours of being elected, and posturing on the Middle East uprisings. The problem is, it is only they who think they are important, nobody else in the world does. The US views us a nice compliant, rather quaint and cute little ally providing them with a convenient floating aircraft carrier moored off Europe, and a tool to play divide and rule with the Europeans where our true allies lie.
    • overtaxed for life  •  3 months ago
      Sick Spineless government, as a kid I was proud to be British, since the 60s the country has just become a cesspool for the rest of the world and a puppet to the USA and the EU.
    • country for sale  •  Sheffield, England  •  3 months ago
      This man hasn't even commited a crime in the eyes of the law. He hasn't been given a trial, no one has been allowed to see the 'evidence' against him, no 'evidence' has been presented to this govt by the American authorities and he hasn't been found guilty by a jury of his countrymen. The FO say the case of Mr Tippen and Abu Qatada are 'different'. Yes they are. Mr Tippen wouldn't send people, strapped up with bombs, into a crowd of innocent people in order to slaughter them. The other one would. Thank you Mr Cameron and Mrs May for being traitors to your country and your countrymen. Your children must be very proud.
    • callum  •  Glasgow, Scotland  •  3 months ago
      This just proves we have a useless goverment,dictated to by the USA, we can't even get a Jordanian terrorist deported back to his own country, This man could easily have been tried here on this matter
    • hants uk  •  London, England  •  3 months ago
      SO the British Passport is now an American one in disguise, when do we queue at the American embassy to pick up our new one ,,,,,Even Chavez would not allow a venzuelian citizen be extradited to USA......
      Europe must be laughing there heard off at the stupidity of Britian...Come on DC show your mettle and get this pensioner loose or you accepting that at a whim Americans can bring any Brit to trial in USA and screw up his life.......for the sake of their ego and lose of face in the world
    • Alan  •  London, England  •  3 months ago
      This is the most outrageous betrayal by the state of an Indigenous British Suject that could possibly be allowed. It confirms absolutely the weak useless generation of politicians that now rule us. At at the same time they allow a terrorist illegal immigrant to enjoy the protection of the state. The sovereignty of our country has been given to the USA, the EU and any foreign government that asks for it. I am outraged and appalled by the weakness of Cameron and the whole government machine as I suspect 1000's of other law abiding citizens are as well.
    • Jack  •  Maidenhead, England  •  3 months ago
      YANKS SOLD ARMS TO SADDAM BEFORE THEY INVADED HIM, SPANISH FRENCH UK SOLD ARMS TO GADAFFI BEFORE THEY INVADED LIBYA, YANKS ARE THE MAIN ARMS SUPPLIER TO WHOLE AFRICA. ETC.
    • jean  •  3 months ago
      Who makes our Laws, the American government, or us.?
    • hippoismentallyunstable  •  London, England  •  3 months ago
      'He was extradited under a controversial treaty signed off in 2003 by both the US and UK governments, which allows American prosecutors to demand British suspects are handed 'over without their cases ever being tested in a British court.'

      Tony Blair has a lot to answer for ....he should be shot over his running of the country...imaging putting the wishes of the USA over the rights of your own people ..he is a traitor to the country.
    • ALAN  •  Madrid, Spain  •  3 months ago
      Once again the UK bends over and takes it up the arse from the Americans. In a treaty signed in 2003 this means if the US want someone from the UK they can come and get them simply by making an application to extradite. If the UK want someone from the US it has to go through their court system to see if the extradition is just. Cameron stands up and states this is a fair agreement. Question to Cameron what's it like walking round smelling American #$%$ everyday? You kiss their arses so much you can smell nothing else.... But then again he's only following the long line of previous Prime Ministers who've don he same. Get a pair between your legs, start taking care of your own people... Stop fighting other people's wars, give less in foreign aid, stop awarding government contracts abroad and start to get the country back on its feet.
    • Fiona  •  3 months ago
      SCRAP THIS TREATY; This REALLY is a breach of Human Rights. We do not live under American Law.........We are British...........British Justice should prevail, in a BRITISH court.....
    • Disillusioned  •  Guildford, England  •  3 months ago
      Conserative Cammeron is just the same as Labour Blaire. a brown nosed US arse kisser.The left and right united under the $ Dollar. Shame on you.