Briton To Face Murder Charges In U.S.
A Briton accused of killing his wife and infant daughter in Massachusetts agreed to return voluntarily to the United States to face trial, his lawyer said Friday.
Neil Entwistle, who was arrested Thursday in London, will not contest extradition and wishes to return to the United States "as soon as possible," his attorney Dan Brandon said at Bow Street Magistrates Court.
District Judge Anthony Evans told Entwistle that his decision to voluntarily return would be irrevocable.
"Yes, that's right," Entwistle replied. He glanced briefly at his father, Cliff Entwistle, as he signed the form consenting to return.
"He was always inclined to consent," Judith Seddon, another lawyer representing Entwistle, told reporters outside court.
Entwistle could return to the United States within a week, reports CBS News correspondent Vicki Barker (audio).
"He wants to cooperate with the authorities in any way that he can, and he is anxious that the delay may cause his late wife's family and his own additional distress, something he wishes to avoid," Seddon said. "He believes that he will receive a fair and a proper hearing in the U.S.A. of these very serious allegations."
She refused to answer a reporter who asked whether Entwistle denied the charges.
Entwistle is accused of fatally shooting Rachel Entwistle, 27, and 9-month-old Lillian on Jan. 20.
"He's facing two counts of murder, one for his wife and daughter each. And one count of a firearm possession illegal and one count of illegal possession of ammunition," Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley
Coakley said forensic results indicated the .22-caliber handgun used in the killings was from a collection owned by Entwistle's father-in-law. Prosecutors believe Entwistle took the gun from his father-in-law's home, then secretly returned it after the slayings.
Authorities allege Entwistle shot his wife in the head and his daughter in the abdomen as they lay together in bed. The district attorney said it was unclear whether the two were awake or sleeping at the time, but said it may have been intended originally as a murder-suicide, with Entwistle changing his mind at the last moment.
It didn't seem "a conventional domestic violence fight, heat of passion kind of crime scene. It also, however, doesn't indicate someone who had this well planned," Coakley told The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen.
The next day, Entwistle flew to London and stayed with his family in Worksop in central England, authorities said.
There is no death penalty in Massachusetts, reports CBS News' Bianca Solorzano. If convicted, Entwistle would face life in prison.
Coakley said Entwistle's finances had deteriorated after the failure of his Internet businesses, which included a Web site that promised customers as much as $6,000 in monthly earnings and another that offered a manual to help men enlarge their penises.
"We do know there were some financial problems for him. He owes money in the United Kingdom. He had not gotten employed in the States. He tried to have some Internet businesses that weren't doing well," Coakley said.
Entwistle had met Rachel Souza, an American, in 1999 at the University of York in England, where she was spending a year abroad. They were married in 2003 and later moved to the United States.