'Relieved' Tappin free on US bail

A retired British businessman who was extradited to the United States over arms dealing charges has been freed on bail, a family spokeswoman said.

Christopher Tappin, 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 dollars (£31,026) of a one million-dollar (£620,527) bond.

A family spokeswoman said the 65-year-old former president of theKent 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, of Orpington, Kent, 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 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.

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.