An American wanted over the rape of two Irish students last summer in New Hampshire is due to be returned to the US to face trial after fleeing to Belgium where he had been fighting extradition.
Federal US marshals are due to escort Mr Steven Gordon back from Brussels for arraignment at Portsmouth District Court in New Hampshire today on charges of felonious sexual assault, US officials said. The two Irish students, both in their 20s, were kidnapped and sexually assaulted while working in the US for the summer.
Mr Gordon is an ex-convict who has already served a five-year sentence for sexual assault and was released last year.
The two students were working in the New Hampshire's Hampton Beach area, a popular resort. According to police, Mr Gordon approached the two women armed with a plastic pellet gun and forced them into a rented car. He then allegedly drove them to a secluded area where he assaulted them. After he fled, the women managed to get help from a nearby house.
Investigators identified Mr Gordon as a suspect after they discovered a rented car he had been using near the scene of the crime. Police said Mr Gordon fled to Amsterdam using his own passport and then on to Brussels where he later surrendered to US officials at the American embassy. Before he surrendered, Mr Gordon gave a brief but startling interview to a reporter from the Boston Globe newspaper, which had managed to contact him by telephone at the Dutch youth hostel where he was hiding. During the interview, Mr Gordon confessed to the assaults and apologised. His family have said he suffers from manic depression and had recently stopped taking medication.
Police said Mr Gordon is also wanted for questioning about a series of armed robberies and in connection with another rape of a New Hampshire real estate agent.