AN ALLEGED paedophile living in Hampshire will face an extradition hearing.

A judge ruled the US government's renewed bid to extradite him is not an abuse of process.

High judges had blocked the extradition of Roger Giese, from Broughton, on human rights grounds.

A fresh extradition bid by the US Government was described by Giese's counsel, Julian Knowles QC, as "unfair and oppressive".

The 42-year-old is wanted for trial in California where he is charged with sexually abusing a boy under the age of 14 from 1998 until 2002.

Giese is alleged to have befriended the boy in 1998, when he was working as a voice coach for the All-American Boys Chorus.

He fled the US eight years ago just as he was about to stand trial.

The former choirmaster is believed to have been living in Broughton under an assumed name, and working for a PR company.

An extradition request from the US was certified by the Home Office in May 2014, and Giese was arrested on June 4 last year.

But district judge Margot Coleman refused the request over fears Giese would be subjected to an order for civil commitment – a form of indefinite confinement in a secure facility – if convicted.

She also ruled that an assurance offered by the US government that this would not happen was "not sufficient".

Mr Knowles QC claimed that the renewed extradition proceedings were "an abuse", and described the US government's bid to restart the proceedings as "unfair and oppressive", adding that the latest extradition bid was "identical in every way" to the last one, apart from a new assurance.

But Mr Cadman, for the US Government, said: "It is very clear that this is an unequivocal assurance."

An extradition hearing has been set for July 31 and August 1 at Westminster Magistrates' Court.