Ex-Marine awaits abduction extradition

A former US marine, accused of abducting schoolgirl Shevaun Pennington, was ordered to remain in German custody today pending a decision on his extradition to Britain.

Toby Studabaker, 32, has been held in a prison near Frankfurt since police arrested him last Wednesday, four days after he and Shevaun, 12, ran away to Paris.

A Frankfurt state court said Studabaker would remain under arrest until a ruling on his extradition.

It did not say when it would make that ruling, which must be approved by the German government.

Last week, Studabaker told a Frankfurt administrative court that he would not fight extradition.

Studabaker also told the court he did not have sex with Pennington, whom he met in an Internet chat room. He maintained he thought the girl was 18, but did not comment further.

The girl, whom Studabaker put on a plane home hours before his arrest, was reunited with her family near Wigan, Greater Manchester, last week.

According to prosecutors in Michigan, Studabaker was charged in the US state in 1998 with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a 12-year-old girl, but the charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence.