The family of an Irish citizen extradited from New York to the UK on a 1980 assault charge say they are living in a “nightmare”.
Rory McGrath, 64, has been in prison in Leeds since July 2022 awaiting trial accused of breaking a police officer’s nose.
His family have launched a fundraising campaign to help pay for his legal expenses and say the situation is “unbelievable”.
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Rory’s sister Carmel, 65, last night told the Sunday Mirror: “It’s terrible, we can’t believe this has happened after 42 years.
“It’s completely unbelievable, we are living in a nightmare.
“Rory got into a few minor scuffles when he was 15, but nothing major.
“He protests his innocence in this. He’s been locked up since last July.
“He came back voluntarily, he paid for his own flight back from New York.
“I haven’t been able to see him. He rings me once a week.
“He’s putting on a good show but this is taking its toll on him.”
Rory, whose mother Sarah hailed from the Aran Islands, spent his youth between Ireland and the UK before moving to the United States.
He settled there with his wife Alice, who is from Kilkenny, has two sons aged 22 and 21, and has dual Irish American citizenship.
He is accused of assaulting a West Yorkshire police officer during a brawl outside a pub.
His trial is due to begin in Leeds Crown Court on Monday and Carmel said Rory’s life has been torn apart since his initial arrest in May 2021.
She said: “He spent more than a year under house arrest in New York and is now imprisoned in HMP Leeds.
“He was on house detention with armed police going in and out of the house, with the two kids there, imagine the stress of that.
“It is horrendous. His wife and sons are in America, powerless to do anything.”
The GoFundMe details how Rory has amassed “massive amounts of legal debt” and is “confined in his cell for 23 of 24 hours in the day”.
Carmel said Rory, a carpenter by trade, had to give up work because his lungs were affected by dust from clearing the site of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.
She said: “After 9/11 he volunteered to go along and clear the site. The dust affected his lungs.
“He was quite sick after that and unable to work any more.”
She added: “We’ve asked so many people for help but we’re getting no support. Rory has been kept in custody for nearly seven months now. It’s horrendous.”
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