Home Secretary agrees to the removals over violent robbery

TWO men are set to become the first Britons to be extradited to Japan, after the Home Secretary signed their removal papers.

- By Tony Whitfield

Kaine Wright, 28, and Joe Chappell, 39, are wanted to face trial for a violent jewellery robbery at a high-end Harry Winston store in Tokyo in November 2015.

Prosecutors claim the pair, along with a third robber, posed as customers to gain entry to the shop.

They then punched a security guard, causing an injury to his face, before smashing display cases in order to make off with more than £600,000 of jewellery.

DNA and CCTV evidence is alleged to have placed them at the scene.

Now the Sunday Express can reveal that Yvette Cooper has finally ordered their extradition to the Far East after a four-year legal battle in Britain.

Officials from the Home Office and the National Crime Agency are understood to be discussing the men's removal.

Chappell's lawyers have lodged an appeal with the High Court in a last-ditch bid to avoid extradition.

Wright, who once played youth team football for West Ham, is expected to follow suit.