SOUTH AFRICA: A British pensioner mistaken for a dangerous fugitive turned on the FBI yesterday after he was finally released from a South African jail where he had spent three weeks because the bureau had "the wrong man".
Mr Derek Bond, a 72-year-old Rotarian, demanded "a great deal more than an apology" after he emerged from a police station in Durban.
FBI agents ordered his arrest as he enjoyed a wine-tasting holiday after the real fugitive "stole" Mr Bond's identity and used it to cover his tracks for as long as 14 years.
The real suspect is in custody after being arrested in Las Vegas on Tuesday, following a tip-off from a man with an English accent.
His voice shaking with emotion, Mr Bond, a grandfather from Bristol, told a news conference he was considering legal action against the FBI. The father of three, who was forced to sleep on a concrete floor, broke down as he said: "It is an enormous relief to be freed. I have three super children and my grandchildren. I just want to go home. Although I have protested my innocence from the beginning this seems to have had very little impact on the FBI and I was really getting very despondent.
"Nobody took a personal statement from me until I had been 10 days in the police cells - that was the first time that they asked me who I was. I think they owe me a great deal more than an apology. There was very, very little action from the FBI."
Asked whether he would be seeking compensation, he said: "I will need to take advice from my lawyers but there does seem to be a justified claim."
Mr Bond, a former engineer who is also a trustee of a local charity, was questioned at the airport in Cape Town when he arrived on January 27th, and arrested a few days later in a KwaZulu-Natal holiday village.
"I did not eat for three days, I had such a knot I just couldn't take any food. I have certainly lost weight," he said.
He said that doing daily crosswords in the local newspaper "was a major contributor to my sanity". Despite his ordeal he had little criticism for the South African authorities and would not be deterred from returning to the "beautiful country". His wife Audrey added: "I have never felt like this in my life, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat."
US embassy spokeswoman, Ms DeAngela Burns-Wallace, said: "Unfortunately it's not a fast process, it's designed to be a thorough process . . . to ensure no rash action is taken." But Mr John Lewis, a spokesman for the US Attorney's Office, said: "He deserves an apology and he certainly gets one from me. I do apologise and others, I'm sure, will as well.
"We had the wrong man.
"The short answer is: it is a case of identity theft. As far back as 1989, the person arrested . . . was using the name, the identity of Derek Bond." The FBI had been hunting a suspect known by the names of Derek Bond and Derek Lloyd Sykes, who had the same date of birth and passport number as Mr Bond.
- (PA)