Fasola loses extradition battle

Ms Fasola operates a seafood export business in Aberdeen

A sheriff has ruled that an Aberdeen businesswoman should be extradited to Italy to serve sentences for organising an armed robbery and counterfeiting.

Dorothy Fasola, 57, has already been convicted of the crimes by a court in Milan. She still has almost five years to serve.

Ms Fasola - who imports and exports seafood - will lodge an appeal.

She was remanded in custody following her appearance at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

Ms Fasola has spent years fighting the attempts to extradite her from her home in Aberdeen.

Medical reasons

The Italian authorities want her to go back to prison to serve time for two offences for which they have already convicted her - a £160,000 jewellery heist in Milan in the 1990s, and counterfeiting money in the late 1980s.

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Ms Fasola did serve more than one-and-a-half years in jail in Italy but was then released for medical reasons.

The Italians want her back to serve the remainder of her sentence, amounting to almost five years.

A lengthy extradition process saw a sheriff make the decision on Wednesday afternoon.

Sheriff Douglas Allan said he was satisfied that there was no interference with her human rights.

Sheriff Allan said he has no human rights concerns

Ms Fasola was believed to have lived in Milan in the 1970s before moving to Scotland to set up the seafood business with her daughter in 2002.

During a previous hearing, lawyers fighting the extradition bid said her business would not survive if she were extradited. Plans to expand the firm into other countries had also been inhibited.

Ms Fasola glanced at her daughter as she was led away to custody.

It could be a further two months before an appeal is heard.