Court rules on 54-year-old teacher accused of sexually assaulting child

A British teacher accused of sexually assaulting a child in Turkey should not be extradited, because she has depression, a court has heard.

Rebecca Richardson, 54, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday as she fights extradition to Turkey over allegations she sexually assaulted a young child while teaching at an international school in Istanbul.

The alleged incident happened in early 2019, when the child would have been four or five years old.

The court heard Richardson, of Cradley in Herefordshire, left the UK in 2000 and spent nearly 20 years living abroad.

She lived in Turkey between 2013 and 2019, but before that had lived in Mexico and Hong Kong, the extradition hearing was told.

Doctors who have assessed her told the court she suffers from depression.

Dr Richard Latham said Richardson suffers from moderate depression, but her symptoms would worsen if she were to be extradited and imprisoned in Turkey.