NatWest Three apply to return to the UK on bail

Lawyers for the NatWest Three are to ask the Home Office to provide special facilities so the men can return to the UK on bail while awaiting their trial for fraud.

A Houston judge said he would consider letting the extradited men return home this Friday if the UK government could guarantee that they would be tagged and effectively monitored.

The three - David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby - are free to travel within Houston this week until the conditions of their bail are settled.

In the UK, Mr Mulgrew's mother, a senior Labour politician in Scotland, broke her silenceyesterday and hit out at the way the Government was handling the case. Trish Godman is the deputy presiding officer (speaker) of the Scottish Parliament.

She branded the controversial treaty under which they were extradited as "a licence to breach the rights of British citizens".

"I also have grave concerns over the way ministers and most Labour MPs dealt with their case before they went to America."