Cheriegate conman deported

CONVICTED conman Peter Foster, the man at the centre of the Cheriegate controversy, is on his way back to Australia following his deportation from Ireland.

Foster was escorted yesterday to Dublin Airport from Mountjoy Prison, where he had spent the night following his detention after he arrived off a flight from Paris.

The 40-year-old was deported because of a two-year jail term for fraud imposed in Britain in 1996, according to garda sources.

Immigration has a right to immediately deport any individual who has been sentenced to a year or more in prison in another jurisdiction.

Foster, whose mother Louise Pelloti lives in north Dublin, has also served time in his native Australia and the US. The convictions related to his attempts to sell bogus slimming aids.

Foster was taken from Mountjoy to Dublin Airport and placed on the 4pm Aer Lingus flight to Frankfurt in Germany.

Immigration sources said he was accompanied to Frankfurt by two gardaí and that the Germany authorities had been informed and assisted in the transfer to an Australia-bound flight.

It has been claimed that Foster faces charges in Australia but this was denied by senior garda sources.

Foster was at the centre of the storm that led to Cherie Blair offering a public apology for her misjudgement over her dealings with the Australian. He was the boyfriend of Carole Caplin, the best friend of the British Prime Minister’s wife.

It emerged Foster helped Mrs Blair buy two flats in Bristol, a claim initially denied by the British government. The connection between the two led to a series of claims and counterclaims that seriously damaged Number 10.

Just before Christmas, Foster dropped plans to fight a British deportation order and had been dividing his time between Spain and Ireland.

His mother lives in Malahide and he gave her address to immigration police after stepping off the Paris flight at 3pm on Monday. Mrs Pelloti was not available for comment yesterday.

Following his detention under the Aliens Act, he was taken to Mountjoy and spent the night on the second landing of C Wing. He was in a cell on his own in a block that houses convicted criminals.

At around 11.30am yesterday, a red Transit van with blacked-out windows took Foster to Dublin Airport.