After weeks of speculation the UK's highest court the House of Lords has decided General Pinochet does not hold diplomatic immunity and can face extradition proceedings to Spain.

Three out of five Law Lords overturned a ruling by the High Court that the former Chilean dictator is immune from prosecution for crimes against humanity allegedly committed when he was head of state.

The general must now appear before Bow Street Magistrates' Court in London next week, when Home Secretary Jack Straw will decide whether extradition proceedings can go ahead.

If Mr Straw gets the extradition wheels turning, the process is expected to be long and tortuous.

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Pinochet supporters are stunned by the decision. Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said that the "old, frail and sick" General Pinochet should be released and allowed to return to Chile.

His son, Sede Fundacion Pinochet said it was a political and facist judgement.

However the ruling was greeted by cheers of celebration from protestors who had been keeping a vigil outside the Grovelands Priory Hospital in north London, where General Pinochet is under arrest while recuperating from a back operation.

Carlos Slepoy, a prominent human rights lawyer said, "it is an irreversible step towards the prosecution of crimes against humanity".

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