Abu Hamza among five terror suspects extradited to US

Five terror suspects, including the radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, have flown out of the UK on a jet bound for the United States.

Officers from Scotland Yard's extradition unit handed the men to US marshals at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk.

A police convoy brought the suspects from Long Lartin prison in Worcestershire to Suffolk at 19:15 BST.

High Court judges earlier dismissed the men's final appeal against extradition to the US to face terror charges.

They said the five men, Abu Hamza, Babar Ahmad, Syed Talha Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Khaled al-Fawwaz, did not show "new and compelling" reasons to stay in the UK.

In a statement, Home Secretary Theresa May said she was pleased that the court decision meant "these men, who used every available opportunity to frustrate and delay the extradition process over many years, could finally be removed".

She said: "This government has co-operated fully with the courts and pressed at every stage to ensure this happened.

"It is right that these men, who are all accused of very serious offences, will finally face justice."

Abu Hamza faces 11 charges in the US relating to hostage taking, conspiracy to establish a militant training camp and calling for holy war in Afghanistan.

Once he lands he is set to appear in front of a judge within 24 hours in an open hearing.

Abu Hamza will be in court, however a lawyer who handles these kinds of cases told the BBC that the radical cleric is unlikely to say anything.

'No appeal'

He is expected to be held at the Metropolitan Correction Centre in New York in an area reserved for high-profile prisoners.

A pre-trial hearing is likely to take place within about three weeks. The actual trial, which should take place in a public courtroom, could take between one and three years.

A US District Court hearing has been scheduled for Mr Ahmad and Mr Ahsan in Connecticut later, according to officials.

The two men, who are aboard one of the planes, are reportedly heading to the state where an internet service provider was allegedly used to host one of the websites.

The trial of terror suspect Abu Hamza could take up to three years

The BBC understands a US Department of Justice-owned Gulfstream jet had been on the tarmac at the base since Tuesday, having flown in from Washington.

A second civilian plane, a Dassault Falcon 900, flew into the airbase in the early hours of Friday morning from Westchester County in New York state.

The High Court ruling on Friday afternoonbrought to an end a long-running legal battle. The men's extradition requests were submitted between 1998 and 2006, between eight and 14 years ago.

The suspects final appeal came after the European Court of Human Rights agreed with successive UK courts, that they should face extradition.

Judges Sir John Thomas and Mr Justice Ousley said in their ruling that there was an "overwhelming public interest in the functioning of the extradition system" and that there was "no appeal from our decision".

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Sir John added that there was little doubt each man had, over the years, "either taken or had the opportunity to take every conceivable point to prevent his extradition to the United States".

Their written ruling, read out in court, concluded that "each of the claimants' applications for permission to apply for judicial review or for a reopening of the statutory appeals be dismissed".