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Mitchell Gunn / Getty Images
Chris Budgen playing rugby for the British Army rugby team at Twickenham in April 2016.
A former Kiwi-born British rugby player could be extradited to New Zealand to face a historic rape charge in Rotorua.
The British Home Office said Stuff that Chris Budgen appeared in Westminster Magistrates Court on 2 December, where he consented to his extradition to New Zealand.
According to Mirror, Budgen agreed to stand trial for the alleged rape in Rotorua in 1991, when he was 18 years old.
EXETER CHIEFS
Chris Budgen on playing for Exeter Chiefs in 2013.
A spokesman for the British Home Office said a judge sent the case to the Home Secretary to decide whether to order extradition.
“The Interior Minister has two months from the date the case was sent to her to make her decision,” they said.
David Rogers / Getty Images
Chris Budgen previously played for the Exeter Chiefs. (In the 2011 photo)
The 47-year-old was born in New Zealand and served in the military here before moving to the UK in the 1990s. Mirror reported.
The British media outlet said Budgen was a lance corporal in the Royal Regiment of Wales, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He also played for the Northampton Saints and Exeter Chiefs and became the oldest try scorer in Premiership rugby history in 2012.
Getty Images / Getty Images
The British Home Secretary has two months to make a decision on Chris Budgen’s extradition.
Mirror reported that New Zealand police reopened the case in 2010 before charges were issued in 2017.
In February, Mirror reported that New Zealand police traveled to England in 2015 to take a DNA sample from Budgen.
New Zealand police declined to comment on the matter.
