Fugitive Kerry Page could be a free woman if the Kenyan authorities fail to meet a deadline for telling the Home Office whether or not they want to prosecute her.

The Home Office says the Kenyans have until early March to make a decision under the terms of the extradition treaty between Britain and Kenya.

A spokesman said: "We have still not heard from the Kenyan Government. If we do not get a response by the deadline, the application will fail, which means Kerry Page will be freed."

Miss Page, 29, of Cleckheaton, is on bail in London after she was arrested on December 22 by the Metropolitan Police.

The Kenyan authorities would normally have had 60 days from the date of the arrest - until February 20 - to apply for extradition.

But the deadline was extended because of the Christmas period.

Home Secretary Jack Straw will have the final say once they have responded.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said she was arrested by officers from the Organised Crime Group's extradition unit on December 22 at the request of the Kenyan authorities.

He said: "She was arrested when she attended Charing Cross Police Station by prior arrangement."

Miss Page appeared before Bow Street Magistrates Court in London on that date, charged with handling stolen goods - forklift trucks, containers and vehicles belonging to the United Nations. Shipping manager Miss Page was in court again two days later and on January 6. The next hearing is on March 5.

The bail conditions are a £20,000 security and that Miss Page lives at an address in London.

The police have also confiscated her passport.

Miss Page's mother Elaine Garnham, 47, of Old Popplewell Lane, Scholes, Cleckheaton, refused to comment on the latest moves.

Her daughter went on the run for nine months after failing to turn up for her trial in Nairobi last May to face nine charges of theft and handling stolen goods.

Miss Page was accused of stealing and receiving equipment worth £200,000 from the United Nations, but has always maintained she was innocent and the victim of a political row.

It was alleged the goods were stolen at the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa after being shipped there from Somalia following a relief mission four years ago.

Miss Page worked as a shipping manager for Somaust, a subsidiary of Australian company Morris Catering which had a contract to supply food to UN aid workers.

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