Paedophile priest is extradited

The paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth was yesterday released from prison in Northern Ireland and immediately extradited to the Irish Republic to face 74 charges of sexual assault and indecent assault.

The failure of the attorney general's office in Dublin over seven months in 1994 to process the 71-year-old Norbertine priest's extradition back to Northern Ireland led to the collapse of the last Irish coalition government and the departure as Taoiseach of Albert Reynolds.

The West Belfast-born priest was jailed for four years in June 1994 after pleading guilty in Belfast to 17 charges of sexual offences against five girls and three boys between 1964 and 1988, among them three members of one family.

The first extradition attempt was sought after he declined to make himself available to the RUC.

Yesterday a crowd of 150 shouted abuse as a police convoy brought Smyth to and from the courthouse at Limavady, County Londonderry from Magilligan Prison. The new charges referred to in the extradition warrants alleged offences against 20 victims since 1969