Former public schoolboy ‘Lord of War’ arms dealer avoids extradition to the US 14 years after being arrested – due to his ‘mental health’ and ‘government delays’

By GEORGE ODLING CRIME CORRESPONDENT

Published: 18:07 GMT, 27 March 2025 | Updated: 18:44 GMT, 27 March 2025

A British arms dealer nicknamed the ‘Lord of War’ has avoided extradition to the US after extraordinary delays left the case in limbo for 14 years.

Former public schoolboy Guy Savage, 56, had faced up to 20 years in prison in America over a 21-count indictment involving arms smuggling offences.

The father-of-two, a former Home Office adviser, was accused of smuggling weapons to Iraq and the Middle East and breaking export laws on guns including powerful assault rifles – claims he denied.

An extradition request was first granted by a court in 2011 but Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring discharged the order because he said the Government had failed to properly explain the delays.

Savage, from Pinner in northwest London, triumphantly shook hands with his lawyer after the hearing.

The indictment he faced dated between 2003 and 2008 when he was chief executive of Sabre Defence Industries.

Savage had advised ministers on firearms policy, despite being convicted of possessing and selling prohibited pump action and semi-automatic rifles.

In 1996 he won a legal fight to continue selling firearms despite saying the ‘hysteria’ of the parents of the children shot dead at Dunblane had ruined his business

Former public schoolboy Guy Savage had faced up to 20 years in prison in America over a 21-count indictment involving arms smuggling offences. Pictured: The defendant holding an AR-15 rifle 

Savage is believed to have named himself the Lord of War after the 2005 Nicholas Cage film. Pictured: The arms dealer outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court at a previous appearance

A source told the Mail he called himself the Lord of War after the 2005 film starring Nicolas Cage as a ruthless arms dealer, adding ‘but he was operating in north London, not some camp in Afghanistan’.

The former student at £26,000-a-year Highgate School was arrested by Scotland Yard in a raid on his £800,000 suburban home on 8 February, 2011.

Officers shot out the tyres of his Mercedes and set neighbours’ net curtains billowing with stun grenades.

But a series of delays blamed by the Government on Brexit, Covid and concerns about Savage’s mental health meant that no decision was made about his extradition until today.

Mr Goldspring told Westminster Magistrates’ Court: ‘The central tenet of the Secretary of State’s reason for the cause of delay is that much of the day was unforeseeable and unavoidable.

‘There is some merit in that argument at some junctures in the chronology.

‘Matters such as waiting for expert reports or awaiting legal advice are largely out of the Secretary of State’s hands.

‘However, events such as Brexit and Covid, or other high-profile or complicated extradition matters did not creep up on the department, neither was the need to juggle multiple tasks at the same time unforeseeable.’

Supporters of Savage wept in court as it was confirmed he had avoided extradition. Pictured: Savage leaving Westminster Magistrates’ Court with a friend after his case was discharged

Savage, who insisted he was not guilty of arms smuggling and had committed only ‘regulatory offences,’ wore a dark blue shirt and clutched a walking stick in court.

Mr Goldspring said the decision should have been made more quickly and that he recognised that the US authorities were not at fault for delays.

‘I conclude that the Secretary of State has not discharged the burden to show reasonable cause for the delay and consequently I order the application to discharge,’ he added.

Savage’s family and friends – gathered in the public gallery – were heard weeping as the decision to grant the application was delivered.

Mr Goldspring told Savage: ‘The decision I’ve come to is that I am discharging you.

‘As far as this court is concerned that is the end of proceedings, and there is nothing outstanding against you in relation to these proceedings.

‘As far as you are concerned, the matter is discharged and you are free to go.’

Savage’s barrister, Ben Cooper, criticised the Government for its ‘repeated bureaucratic incompetence.’

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Former public schoolboy ‘Lord of War’ arms dealer avoids extradition to the US 14 years after being arrested – due to his ‘mental health’ and ‘government delays’

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