Former choir leader jailed for abusing boys in US

A former choir leader, who lost a long legal battle against extradition to the United States, has been jailed for 24 years for sexually abusing boys.

Roger Giese, 49, absconded from the USA in 2007 where he was due to face trial in California.

He was arrested in the UK in 2014 when he was living in a Hampshire village under a different name with a woman who did not know his true identity.

Giese pleaded guilty at a California court to 20 offences including performing lewd acts.

At least one of his two victims was a choirboy in the All-American Boys Chorus where Giese was a vocal coach, US media reported.

After leaving his family in the US in his bid to escape justice, Giese appeared on an FBI wanted list in 2010.

In December 2011, US authorities received an anonymous tip that he might be in the UK.

He was arrested while working as a PR director in Hampshire.

In 2015, the High Court refused an extradition request by the US government.

It said Giese might be subject to indefinite confinement in California which would infringe his human rights.

US authorities later wrote assurances that Giese would not face the so-called civil commitment order at the end of his sentence.

He was eventually extradited in 2018 after failing to persuade judges that his human rights might also be infringed by the risk of prison violence.

In a reported plea deal, Giese admitted 20 offences committed between 1997 and 1999.

They included 10 lewd acts on a child aged 14 or 15 and six lewd acts with a minor.