Tappin granted $1m bail ahead of arms trial in US

Businessman Christopher Tappin, 65, awaits trial in Texas and faces 35 years in prison if convicted (PA)

The British businessman accused by the US of selling weapons to Iran has been granted bail and could be freed this week.

Christopher Tappin, 65, of Orpington, South-east London, is expected to be released from a detention centre in New Mexico.

Mr Tappin, who lost his two-year battle against extradition to the US, denies trying to sell batteries for surface-to-air missiles which were to be shipped from the US to Tehran via the Netherlands.

He claims he was the victim of entrapment in a "sting" organised by US government agents. He was ordered to pay a bond of $1m (£620,527) including a $50,000 sum paid for by his family. District Judge David Briones also ordered that Mr Tappin live at the home of his US defence attorney, Dan Cogdell, or stay within a five-mile radius of his house while he awaits trial in El Paso, Texas. Mr Tappin faces 35 years in prison if convicted.