'Relieved' Christopher Tappin free on US bail (From News Shopper)
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'Relieved' Christopher Tappin free on US bail
8:26am Thursday 26th April 2012 in Crime © Press Association
Christopher Tappin has been freed on bail in the United States
A RETIRED businessman who was extradited to the United States over arms dealing charges has been freed on bail, a family spokeswoman said.
Christopher Tappin, of Larch Dene, Farnborough Park, who faces up to 35 years in jail if convicted, was released from Otero County detention centre in New Mexico after his family paid $50,000 (£31,026) of a $1m (£620,527) bond.
A family spokeswoman said the 65-year-old former president of the Kent Golf Union was released on Wednesday and his family was planning to visit him in Texas, where he must stay, as soon as possible.
Speaking on Monday night when a judge set the terms of his release, Tappin's wife Elaine said she was relieved and "grateful for the judge's humanity".
Mrs Tappin, 62, said her husband had been "unnecessarily locked up" for more than eight weeks and "abandoned by the authorities in his own country".
Tappin, who denies trying to sell batteries for surface-to-air missiles to Iran, faces trial in El Paso, Texas.
His case has fuelled the row over the fairness of the extradition treaty between the UK and the US.
Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC said Mr Tappin's extradition highlighted problems with the treaty which were not "readily curable", warning that many Britons were left uneasy when faced with the seemingly harsh and disproportionate sentences in the American justice system.
Other critics of the 2003 treaty, including Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, have described it as "one-sided", but an independent review by retired Court of Appeal judge Sir Scott Baker last year found it was balanced and fair.
Mr Tappin's extradition follows an investigation which started in 2005 when US agents asked technology providers about buyers who might have raised red flags.
Those customers were then approached by undercover companies set up by government agencies.
Briton Robert Gibson, an associate of Tappin who agreed to co-operate, was jailed for 24 months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to export defence articles.
Gibson provided customs agents with about 16,000 computer files and emails indicating that he and Tappin had long-standing commercial ties with Iranian customers.
American Robert Caldwell was also found guilty of aiding and abetting the illegal transport of defence articles and served 20 months in prison.
Comments(2)
Locked and Loaded
says...
2:37pm Sat 28 Apr 12
Now this is "only my opinion" from what I've read on this story on both side of the pond, and yes I'm not party to all the facts by a long way. Just my opinion again but from what I've read I think this man took the p1ss over a period of time, even after having been warned off by the Feds who confiscated $100000 from him. No greed for an easy profit drove him to continue, and now there's a price to pay.
Now the bail situation is another story, yes in my humble opinion he should have made bail as he poses no threat. In another story from my home State a wanna be policeman get into a confrontation with an unarmed 17 year old youth and shoots him dead. He makes bail of $15000. The bail situation is my only issue with Tappins case.
Excalibur says...
11:01am Sat 28 Apr 12
Rubbish. The fact is that the US know how to hand down appropriate sentences to their criminal fraternity, unlike this pathetic country with it's liberal judiciary.
The Tappin family certainly have a good set of spin doctors working for them. When studied properly, the facts tend to speak for themselves. I'm sure that justice will prevail and then the spin doctors and British/European media can spend the next few years wiping the egg off their faces.