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.