Attempt to extradite DJ for sex charge fails

A former BBC Radio 1 DJ was freed by a Czech court yesterday after an attempt to extradite him to Britain to face charges of sexually abusing children failed.

Chris Denning, 60, who was part of Radio 1's original 1967 line-up, was jailed in Prague last year for sex offences against boys under the age of 15.

He was due to be freed in May this year but remained in custody after the British Government submitted a request to extradite him to answer charges of sexually abusing under-age boys in the UK in the 1970s. He was released after a Prague court ruled that too much time had passed since the alleged offences. Under Czech law, suspects cannot be prosecuted if five years or more have elapsed.

Mr Denning, from Bracknell, Berkshire, has 10 days to leave the Czech Republic, but it is not known where he will go. Police said he would be arrested if he returned to Britain.

Mr Denning, who has previous convictions in Britain for sex offences against young boys, used to work at the same Surrey disco as Jonathan King, 56, the pop mogul who was jailed last week for seven years for abusing schoolboys.