A SIDMOUTH man, wanted in connection with a string of armed robberies in east Devon, is being extradited back to the UK after serving a prison sentence in America. Stephen Jackley, 23, of Manstone Avenue, was due to be released from a US jail on Wednesda

A SIDMOUTH man, wanted in connection with a string of armed robberies in east Devon, is being extradited back to the UK after serving a prison sentence in America.

Stephen Jackley, 23, of Manstone Avenue, was due to be released from a US jail on Wednesday after serving four and a half months of a ten month sentence for attempting to buy a gun with a fake ID in Vermont for a bet.

Federal officers or US police were due to detain Jackley, who was described as "a very quiet lad", after he was released from Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center in New York until British police fly him back to the UK.

A police spokesman said yesterday a date had not yet been set for his return.

Once back in England, police will charge him with a number of offences, which is believed to include an armed robbery in Lloyds TSB in Seaton, as well as two armed robberies and two robberies in Exeter.

A spokesman for West Mercia Police, which is leading the investigation, confirmed that once on British soil, Jackley would be charged with alleged offences, also thought to include a bank robbery in Herefordshire as well as three armed robberies and two burglaries in Worcestershire.

He is also wanted by police in the Netherlands in relation to similar investigations.

Detective Constable Alex Bingham, of Exeter CID, said: "Because Jackley is being extradited back to England, he will not face the normal interview process. Instead he will be charged straightaway."

Jackley, who was a first year student on an undergraduate modular scheme at the University of Worcester, was arrested in May 2008 in America after he fled a gun shop in a car, which he then crashed into another vehicle.

Following his arrest, South Worcestershire Police searched his dorm room at Henwick Road halls of residence and it was then officers linked Jackley to the alleged offences in England.

DC Bingham added it was likely Jackley would be taken into the custody of West Mercia Police and would face trial in the Midlands.