UK under fire over extradition delay

The British government was today challenged to explain a three and a half year delay in seeking the extradition of a key suspect in a Northern Ireland spy scandal.

Democratic Unionist Party MP Peter Robinson pledged to confront Attorney General Lord Goldsmith about Larry Zaitschek, a former chef at Special Branch headquarters in Belfast raided by the IRA in March 2002.

Even though a police file recommending the American should be brought back to Northern Ireland was sent to the prosecution services within six months, no decision has yet been taken.

And legal sources close to the authorities studying the papers have disclosed it would be months, rather than weeks, before there is any movement.

The apparent torpor over a case where the code names of scores of Special Branch detectives and details on their informants were allegedly seized by the Provisionals, as well as its direct link to the collapse of the Stormont power-sharing Executive, astonished Mr Robinson.

With the British government already under pressure to reveal why espionage charges were dropped against top Sinn Féin official-turned British agent Denis Donaldson, the DUP deputy leader claimed it may be to protect informers.

He said: “The police obviously thought they had sufficient evidence to warrant prosecution and passed it to the prosecution service.

“It’s unconscionable that they should be sitting on such an important case for such a long period of time without offering the least explanation for this feet dragging.

“It’s either wrapped up with consideration of extradition issues or it’s wrapped up in some of the evidence from sources they did not want to identify.

“I will be putting questions to ask if the Attorney General has been consulted on this.”

Mr Zaitschek, 38, was publicly identified as a suspect in the St Patrick’s Day break-in at the Castlereagh security base.

He emphatically denied any involvement in the raid, stressing that he had fully co-operated with the police investigation before returning home to New York.

The chef, who was in the gym at Castlereagh on the night of the raid, is also an acquaintance of Mr Donaldson, dramatically unmasked last month as a paid police and MI5 mole.

Mr Donaldson was one of three men accused of intelligence gathering following a police surveillance operation, codenamed Torsion, launched after the Castlereagh security breach.

They were arrested and charged by detectives who carried out high profile searches at Sinn Féin offices in Parliament Buildings, Stormont.

The raid provoked uproar and brought down the devolved administration in Belfast, with unionists refusing to sit in a coalition cabinet alongside republicans.

But the case against Mr Donaldson, one of Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams most trusted aides, and his co-accused was dropped when the authorities announced in December prosecution would not be in the public interest.

Within days Mr Donaldson had confessed to a 20-year career as an informer.

His links to Mr Zaitschek remain under scrutiny, and with the political storm over Stormontgate showing no sign of relenting, the prosecution service is facing pressure to make a decision.

The New Yorker’s solicitor, Kevin Winters, has written to the Public Prosecution Service demanding to know if it was still seeking his extradition.

Mr Winters also expressed concern over his client’s legal fight to gain access to his son he has not seen for nearly four years, stressing that he faces arrest if he returns to Northern Ireland.

“At its most charitable, the child is being used as a pawn in a wider political process,” the lawyer claimed.

“In terms of getting a response about what’s happening this case is unusual.”

A senior PPS lawyer is still assessing the file on Mr Zaitschek before deciding if he should be prosecuted and his extradition sought.

It must also be agreed by the Director of Public Prosecutions in Northern Ireland, Sir Alasdair Fraser.

A spokesman for the Public Prosecution Service today declined to comment on the case.