IRA Killing Suspect Flown From U.S. to Face Trial

LONDON —  An American charged with the 1975 killing of a London police constable arrived in Britain today aboard a Royal Air Force jet after his extradition from the United States.

William Joseph Quinn, once convicted in Ireland of being a member of the Irish Republican Army, was put aboard the jet at a U.S. Air Force base near San Francisco and arrived this morning at the Royal Air Force base at Brize Norton, near Oxford.

There, he was transferred to a police helicopter and reportedly taken to a lockup in London’s Paddington district for questioning.

He is to appear in court Wednesday, police said.

Shot 3 Times

Quinn, a San Francisco resident and U.S. citizen, is charged with killing police constable Stephen Tibble in February, 1975. British officials say Tibble was shot three times while pursuing a suspect fleeing from an IRA hide-out.

Later that year, Quinn was convicted in Ireland of belonging to the outlawed IRA but was released a year later because of extradition difficulties between Britain and the Irish Republic.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused last week to hear Quinn’s argument that the London shooting was a political offense and therefore not covered by the U.S.-British extradition treaty.

Quinn was arrested in September, 1981, in Daly City, south of San Francisco, and has been in jail since.