Arms dealer returns to London prison

The lawyer representing Christopher Tappin, a British businessman who was jailed in the United States for arms dealing, has confirmed that he is now at Wandsworth prison and will serve the remainder of his sentence in the UK.

Karen Todner told the BBC: "For six weeks while his repatriation was being approved, he was moved to the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York, a prison which is teeming with rats and run by gangs.

Mr Tappin is an upstanding, proud man and he told me he just tried to stay in the background there. After that, his hands and feet were shackled while he was taken to JFK Airport to be flown home. His family are relieved he is back, particularly as he suffers chest problems."

The former president of the Kent Golf Union was originally thought to have faced up to 35 years in jail if found guilty. He fought against his extradition, taking his case all the way to the European Court of Human Rights.

After denying attempting to sell batteries for surface-to-air missiles, he later admitted that, between 2005 and 2007, he knowingly aided and abetted others in an illegal attempt to export zinc/silver oxide reserve batteries, a special component of the Hawk Air Defence Missile, to Iran.