A one-legged paedophile wanted by the authorities in the Caribbean is fighting extradition because he claims he needs NHS care.
Predator Colin Kristensen was freed from jail in the billionaires’ playground of Sint Maarten to get a new false limb fitted in Scotland – then refused to return.
He’s supposed to be behind bars for abusing a six-year-old girl and looting jewels as part of a corruption scandal that rocked the West Indian paradise.
But instead he’s holed up in Glasgow on the sex offenders’ register, being monitored by police – as St Maarten’s bid to extradite him drags through the courts.
At first, Kristensen claimed he couldn’t leave Scotland because his new false leg had been delayed by the pandemic.
His lawyer Shaira Bommel told a hearing in the Caribbean last week he has a heart condition that our hospitals are better placed to deal with.
But St Maarten solicitor-general Reinoud den Haan insisted Kristensen, 63, is trying to evade justice. He said: “I see a pattern. The suspect now invokes a heart condition without any substantiation or proof.”
Last night a source close to the case said: “The court’s patience is wearing very thin. The suspicion is that he doesn’t want to do his time and is grabbing at any desperate tactic just to stay out of jail.”
Expat Kristensen ran a yacht tech firm in Florida and St Maarten – one half of a sunshine isle split between France and Holland.
It’s home to 40,000 people and a hotspot for cruise ships and the rich but Hurricane Irma in September 2017 left a £2billion trail of devastation in its wake.
In 2015 Kristensen received a suspended sentence for Tasering his ex-wife’s partner but further allegations of child abuse were made and police started an investigation.
He began bribing detective Jerry Gerardus – an adviser to the St Maarten PM – with money and holidays in return for information about the inquiries.
The cop also forged a document to try to put the paedophile in the clear.
But their web of corruption began to unravel in the wake of Irma.
Police chiefs were tipped off that the pair had conspired to pinch diamonds from the rubble of a jeweller’s shop. Gerardus – who got a three-year sentence – was busted in July 2018 and Kristensen was arrested days later.
The Scot, who has links to Ayrshire, was jailed for seven years in 2019 for abusing the youngster, distributing child abuse images of his victim and other girls, fencing the jewels, bribery and another Taser assault.
He’d denied the charges dating back to the period 2015 to 2017 but admitted a further count of possessing cocaine.
Kristensen lodged an appeal but remained behind bars until December 2019 when jail doctors diagnosed him with a slipped disc in his back, which had been made worse by his homemade false leg.
He was allowed a five-month free pass from prison so he could jet to Scotland for spinal surgery and a new limb.
When he failed to return, St Maarten lodged extradition papers.
The latest in a series of hearings is due in Edinburgh next month, with his appeal in the Caribbean put off till February.
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