Briton extradited to US on arms dealing charges is freed on bail after payment of $50,000
A retired British businessman who was extradited to the US in February to face arms dealing charges has been freed on bail, a family spokeswoman has said.
Chris Tappin, 65, of Orpington, south-east London, 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 relatives were planning to visit Tappin in Texas where he must stay while on bail.
Tappin, who lost his two-year battle against extradition to the US, denies attempting to sell batteries for surface-to-air missiles which were to be shipped from the US to Tehran via the Netherlands. He claims he was the victim of entrapment in a "sting" organised by US government agents, but could face up to 35 years in prison if convicted.
Judge Briones also ordered that Tappin live at the home of his US defence attorney, Dan Cogdell, or else stay within a five-mile radius of his house while he awaits trial over the state border in El Paso, Texas.
The case has fuelled criticism of the UK's extradition arrangements with both the US and Europe while the attorney general, Dominic Grieve, has said that Tappin's extradition has highlighted problems with the treaty between the UK and the US that are not "readily curable".
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 Lord Justice Scott Baker last year found it was both balanced and fair.
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.
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.