Teacher won't be extradited over child sex offence

Turkey had requested the extradition of Rebecca Richardson, 54,

A British teacher accused of sexually assaulting a young child while teaching in Turkey will not be extradited, following a court's decision to discharge the request.

Turkey had requested the extradition of Rebecca Richardson, 54, from Herefordshire, after she was accused of sexually assaulting a child at an international school in Istanbul in 2019.

At a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, Judge Paul Goldspring discharged Richardson from the extradition request.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has been granted two weeks to appeal the decision in the High Court.

A spokesperson for the CPS said: "On 25 June 2025, a district judge sitting at Westminster Magistrates' Court discharged Ms Richardson from an extradition request made by the government of the Republic of Turkey.

"The CPS will now consider the judgement carefully."

Ms Richardson, who lives in Cradley, near Ledbury, was released on bail ahead of the next hearing at the same court on 9 July.

The court previously heard the teacher left the UK in 2000 and spent nearly 20 years living abroad.

She lived in Turkey between 2013 and 2019, and previously lived in Mexico and Hong Kong, the hearing was told.