Court delays ruling on paedophile extradition

The High Court in London has reserved judgment on a human rights bid by an Irish paedophile to block his return to the US where he is wanted for allegedly abusing three girls in the 1990s.

Lawyers for Shawn Sullivan, aged 43, who has dual US-Irish nationality, said he could face detention with no hope of release under a controversial US sex offenders’ treatment programme. Nobody on the programme has yet been released, said counsel for Mr Sullivan, who has been described as one of America’s most wanted alleged sex criminals.

Two judges were asked in a day-long hearing by Mr Sullivan to block the British home secretary’s decision in Feb 2011 to order his extradition to Minnesota.