by Our Sports Desk

FORMER Fifa vice-president Jack Warner has turned to one of Britain’s leading barristers to help fight his extradition to the US on corruption charges.

Edward Fitzgerald QC confirmed yesterday that he had agreed to advise disgraced Warner and his legal team in Trinidad.

Former clients of the eminent 61-year-old barrister include Muslim cleric Abu Hamza, Moors murderer Myra Hindley, one of the killers of James Bulger and Maxine Carr — ex-girlfriend of Soham murderer Ian Huntley.

Former Fifa executive member Warner has been indicted by the US Justice Department on eight counts of football-related corruption and is currently on bail in Trinidad. He was forced to resign from Fifa in 2011 after being caught up in a corruption scandal, but has insisted he has done nothing wrong.

Warner stands accused of taking a $10 million (£6.4m) bribe to vote for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup, among a number of other charges.

A staunch opponent of the death penalty, Fitzgerald has won human rights awards for his cases challenging death sentences.

He has also, significantly, represented Trinidadian businessman Steve Ferguson who has successfully resisted extradition to the US for the last 10 years.

In an interview with the Guardian in 2007, the barrister defended his choice of clients saying: “Some people ask: ‘Why are you spending your life defending terrible people?’

“The answer is that everybody is entitled to a fair trial. It would be terrible if we stopped defending people because they’re unpopular. The legal process is an attempt to civilise our emotions of revenge.“Anything that’s against lynch law seems to me to be a good thing.”

Both of Warner’s two sons Daryll and Daryan and his former deputy Chuck Blazer, have all pleaded guilty to related charges.

In a statement earlier this month, Warner said: “I have been afforded no due process and I have not even been questioned in this matter. I reiterate that I am innocent of any charges.”

The US embassy in Port of Spain said no final extradition request had been made to the Trinidad and Tobago attorney general.

It said on its Twitter account: “The US Department of Justice has not yet sent any final requests on the Jack Warner extradition request to the T&T authorities.”