Briton extradited to Singapore to face murder charges

CANBERRA - Australia is to extradite a British businessman to Singapore to face trial for a double murder after Australia's highest court on Tuesday rejected his bid to avoid being handed over.

Michael McCrea, 46, is accused of murdering his driver and his driver's girlfriend, whose bodies were found in a car parked at a Singapore shopping centre in January 2002.

Known for its tough stance on crime, Singapore mandates the death sentence for murder and drug trafficking. Australia is a staunch opponent of the death penalty and bans extradition of people who could face execution.

In June 2002, Singapore promised Australia it would not impose the death penalty if McCrea were found guilty.

Lawyers for McCrea asked the Australian High Court on Tuesday to block his extradition because Singapore's promise was unenforceable. They argued that it would therefore be illegal for Australia to hand the Briton over to Singapore authorities.

But three judges, at a special hearing in Melbourne, refused McCrea's application and supported a lower court ruling that the extradition could proceed.

Singapore authorities will now travel to Australia to escort McCrea back to face trial. Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison said his decision to allow the extradition would be carried out.

"As Mr McCrea has exhausted his avenues of appeal, my decision of the 7th of September -- that Mr McCrea be extradited to Singapore -- will be implemented," Ellison said in a statement.

In a case that shocked relatively crime-free Singapore, Kho Nai Guan was strangled and stuffed into a wicker basket placed on the back seat of his own car. The strangled body of Lan Ma Ying, the chauffeur's girlfriend, was left in the car boot.

The two cloth-wrapped bodies were found after a passer-by alerted security guards to a foul smell coming from the vehicle.

McCrea, a Singapore financial adviser originally from Nottingham in England, was detained in Australia for suspected visa violations and arrested in June 2002.

His Singaporean assistant, Audrey Ong, then 23, pleaded guilty in February 2003 to helping dispose of the bodies. She is now serving a 12-year sentence in a Singapore prison.

Australia carried out its last execution in 1967 and abolished the death penalty nationwide in 1985 after various states and territories had done so.

Singapore caused a diplomatic storm in 1994 when it ignored Western appeals and hanged a Dutchman for trafficking heroin.

- REUTERS