Lee Tucker handed bail of R150 000

WEDNESDAY APRIL 27 2016 AN ALLEGED paedophile wanted in the UK for a series of sexual assaults on young boys has been released from jail on strict bail conditions.

Yesterday, magistrate Grant Engel granted Lee Tucker R150 000 bail, placing him under house arrest pending his extradition. Engel said the 52-year-old man, who had been living in Cape Town for 15 years, was not a flight risk, could not intimidate State witnesses in the UK, and successfully proved that it was in the interest of justice he be freed.

Engel said Tucker was aware that “his cover had been blown”, and authorities were looking for him in October last year when he read an article that alerted him to this. He had five to six months to flee the country before he was arrested in March this year, but chose not to.

Tucker had been living in Sea Point while being wanted in the UK for a series of sexual assaults on boys between the ages of 12 and 15.

During his bail hearing it was revealed that less than a month after British authorities had told their South African counterparts they were to seek Tucker’s extradition, he was given police clearance in a routine check needed for a visa to stay in the country.

He had been living a double life as a commercial pilot and an IT specialist.

Tucker, originally from Swansea in Wales, was arrested at his Sea Point home last month, much to the surprise of his neighbours.

He was originally arrested in Bristol in 1998 as part of a paedophile ring that allegedly targeted young boys.

The soft-spoken man was found guilty of a series of sexual assaults in 2000 and was handed an eightyear sentence.

However, because of a technicality, he was acquitted after a successful appeal in the Swindon Crown Court in the UK.

That year, he fled to Cape Town and, during his absence, the charges against him and his coaccused were reinstated.

Tucker said he was not aware that the charges against him were reinstated. He faces 42 accounts of indecent assault in the UK.

His bail conditions dictate that he hand over his travel documents to the investigating officer and report to the Sea Point police station three times a day, seven days a week.

He will be fitted with a tracking device and cannot leave the Sea Point area, unless he is to appear in court.

He is prohibited from being less than 100 metres from an airport and is subject to provision of the department while under house arrest. He will be allowed medical assistance at certain times, but this has to be discussed with his lawyer.

Tucker also has to pay R5 million as a bond of security, which must be handed over in the next few weeks, and was warned he could not fly a helicopter. The case was postponed to May 27.

The State will, in the coming weeks, file the extradition papers to ensure that Tucker faces his trial in the UK.