Runaway teacher to be extradited

Runaway teacher Jeremy Forrest will return to the UK after a French court agreed to his extradition.

Magistrates in Bordeaux granted the request during a short hearing on Thursday morning.

Forrest, 30, did not appear in court and was represented by his lawyer Daniel Lalanne. The maths teacher from Ringmer, East Sussex, disappeared with a 15-year-old pupil on September 20 and was arrested in the south western French city on Friday.

It followed the issue of a European Arrest Warrant after the pair failed to use return Dover-Calais ferry tickets. Mr Lalanne said after the hearing he did not know when Forrest would return to the UK but that it could be "at any moment".

Mr Lalanne said: "The decision was as expected. Jeremy Forrest will be handed over to the British authorities with his agreement."

The lawyer said he had no say in the logistics of his return but that it would happen "quickly", adding: "I cannot be more specific than that."

Scots-born Forrest agreed to his extradition at a hearing in the port city on Tuesday. His UK solicitor said the "full story" of his disappearance with the pupil will emerge once he has been deported. Phil Smith of Tuckers Solicitors said he was "most concerned" about the impact of events on all those involved.

The pupil was reunited with her family at the weekend. She was reported missing when she failed to turn up at school and it emerged she had travelled to France with Forrest, sparking a highly-publicised search.

The pair were spotted on CCTV cameras on the cross-channel ferry and later tracked to Bordeaux where they were recognised by a member of the public who had seen television coverage of the case.