US 'fugitive' Roger Giese extradition refused

The High Court judges gave the US 14 days to provide assurances it would not seek a civil commitment order against Mr Giese

A former choir master wanted by the FBI for alleged child sex offences has been allowed to remain in the UK over fears his human rights would be breached if he were extradited to the US.

Roger Giese, 40, who was due to face trial in California in 2007, was arrested by UK police last June.

US authorities want him to be extradited to answer charges he sexually abused a 13-year-old boy.

An earlier decision to refuse the request was upheld at the High Court.

Mr Giese left California eight years ago and has been living in a Hampshire village under a different name.

He is charged with abusing the boy from 1998 until 2002, while he was working as a voice coach for the All-American Boys Chorus.

The US had appealed the earlier ruling, which expressed fears Mr Giese could be subjected to a civil commitment order - a form of indeterminate confinement - if convicted overseas.

The FBI previously issued an appeal, using these photographs taken in 1998, for information on Mr Giese's whereabouts

In April, District Judge Margot Coleman said this would be a "flagrant denial" of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

At London's High Court on Wednesday, Lord Justice Aikens and Mr Justice Holroyde agreed.

They said the fact the US government was not prepared to state it would not seek an order against Mr Giese "gave rise to an inference that there was a real risk of that happening".

Both judges gave US authorities 14 days to offer "a satisfactory assurance" that if found guilty "there will be no attempt to make [Mr Giese] the subject of a civil commitment order".

If no assurance was given "in due time", the US government appeal for the right to extradite "must be dismissed", they said.