The High Court yesterday cleared the way for the extradition to England, on charges of participation in a large-scale fraud, of an accountant from Jersey now living in Co Meath.

Mr Kelvin Myles (41), who lives at Staleen, Donore, with his Irish-born wife, is wanted in relation to claims by the English authorities of alleged fraud in the issue of shares in Richmond Oil and Gas plc in 1989.

The court was told Mr Myles has been on bail here for the past three years pending the outcome of yesterday's hearing. The bail conditions will continue to apply in the event of an appeal by Mr Myles to the Supreme Court against yesterday's decision.

In his reserved judgment on Mr Myles's challenge to his proposed extradition, Mr Justice Geoghegan said he was satisfied the offence with which Mr Myles was charged in England corresponded with an offence in Irish law.