Ipswich/Felixstowe: “Fast” Eddie Maher back in the UK and will face court, 19 years after alleged �1million theft

Maher was released into the custody of the US immigration service on May 13 after a court agreed to a joint motion to transfer him.

A spokesman for Suffolk police said: “Suffolk police can today, Tuesday 10 July, confirm that a man who has been wanted by Suffolk police since 1993 in relation to a security van theft has been deported from the United States and is due to appear before Ipswich Magistrates’ Court today charged with theft.”

Edward Maher, 57, formerly of Freemantle Close, South Woodham Ferrers, near Chelmsford in Essex and who has more recently been living in the United States, was circulated as wanted by Suffolk Police in 1993 following the theft of a security van from outside Lloyds Bank in Hamilton Road, Felixstowe on 22nd January 1993.

It is alleged that when Maher was working as a Securicor guard in 1993, his colleague entered the bank in Felixstowe, returning to find Maher and the money had vanished.

Maher, his common-law wife Deborah Brett and three-year-old son Lee were never seen again.

Suffolk detectives have been wanting to speak to Maher, formerly of South Woodham Ferrers, near Chelmsford, in connection with the incident for 19 years.

The Star revealed in February how Maher had been arrested at his home in Ozark, Missouri, a flat he shared with his wife Sarah.

FBI agents and police swooped on February 8 after Maher’s daughter-in-law Jessica King tipped them off following a fall out with him.

The former London firefighter was detained and charged with document fraud, identity theft and being an illegal alien in possession of weapons.

According to documents filed with the US District Court in Springfield, Missouri, Maher began working in the US in 1998 and has been using the identity of his brother Michael Maher who lives in England.

US authorities have not confirmed whether Maher’s wife Sarah is the woman who was known as Deborah Brett in England.