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How WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sneaked out of Britain to freedom aboard a £20 million private jet after 14 years tumultuous years, write SAM GREENHILL and GEORGE ODLING
With its hand-stitched leather upholstery, mahogany 'stateroom' and the fine dining on offer, Julian Assange's private jet must have seemed like a little taste of heaven after his prison cell.
And how apt it was for this world-class narcissist to stage his finale to 14 tumultuous years in Britain aboard a £20 million Bombardier Global 6000.
At 6.36pm on a balmy Monday evening, amid huge secrecy, the WikiLeaks founder 'left the jurisdiction of England and Wales' as the luxury plane lifted off from Stansted Airport's runway. Or as his ecstatic supporters put it shortly afterwards: 'Julian Assange is free!'
Either way, after all the drama, chaos, public expense and angst, the Assange circus finally vanished into the clouds.
Earlier in the day, in a clandestine operation signed off by the High Court, Assange had been escorted from his nine-square-metre cell at Belmarsh high-security prison in South-East London and driven to the Essex airport, without a word being uttered to the public who have been shouldering the enormous financial and reputational cost of his stay in Britain.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange 'left the jurisdiction of England and Wales' on Monday evening
Assange was escorted from his nine-metre squared cell at Belmarsh high security prison in south east London to Stansted Airport
The world-class narcissist aptly staged his finale to 14 tumultuous years in Britain aboard a £20 million Bombardier Global 6000
The courthouse where Assange is expected to enter a guilty plea to an espionage charge in Saipan, northern Mariana Islands
Video clips released by WikiLeaks showed the moment the paunchy, white-haired campaigner, wearing jeans and looking older than his 52 years, strutted across the apron to his jet as the sun beamed down. Then he gazed, blinking, out of a window as he began the long journey home to Australia.
Waiting for him in Sydney to start a 'quiet' new life were his wife Stella and their two sons, whom he fathered as a fugitive from justice while holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy. Gabriel, seven, and Max, five, have never met their father outside his incarceration. Their mother said she had not yet informed the boys of the release plans, for fear of the information leaking. She told the BBC: 'All I told them was that there was a big surprise.'
From Stansted, Assange's jet flew to Bangkok and was then due to continue to a remote Pacific Ocean outpost, the Northern Mariana Islands, a tiny U.S. territory some 2,500 miles from Australia. A deal had been done.
On its palm-fringed shores, lapped by an azure sea, Assange was due in a court to plead guilty to a single charge of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defence documents. In return, the Americans had promised to seek a 62-month prison sentence – which Assange has already served in this country, so he can remain free.
The secret deal was swiftly condemned as a 'miscarriage of justice' by former U.S. vice president Mike Pence. He tweeted: 'It dishonours the service and sacrifice of the men and women of our armed forces and their families.'
But Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese, who has been lobbying for Assange, told his parliament: 'Regardless of the views that people have about Mr Assange's activities, the case has dragged on for too long.'
Last month, Joe Biden signalled he was 'considering' a plea from Australia to discontinue the action to extradite him to America.
Yesterday it was reported the Biden administration 'threw in the towel' because it did not believe a Labour government would allow him to be extradited. Geoffrey Robertson, a KC who mentored Sir Keir Starmer as a young barrister and is a former legal adviser to WikiLeaks, said U.S. prosecutors knew they 'couldn't rely on' a Starmer administration to put Assange on a flight.
Born in Queensland in 1971, Assange gained notoriety in his teens as a hacker under the name Mendax. By 1995 the computer programmer was in court on more than 30 hacking charges. Looking at more than ten years in prison, he struck a deal to avoid jail by promising never to do it again. To say that pledge was broken would be an understatement.
Fast-forward to 2010 and bleached-blonde Assange was a self-styled cyber-messiah feted by swooning supporters.
It was in April 2010 when WikiLeaks released 700,000 files provided by U.S. defence intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, exposing the U.S. to accusations of war crimes.
This included harrowing footage from the gunsight of Apache helicopter 'Crazy Horse 1-8' which killed 11 people, civilians and journalists, in Baghdad in July 2007. The kill order heard on camera, 'Light 'em all up', caused global outrage. Assange, then aged 39, was at the apex of his adulation.
In August that year, basking in glory on a speaking trip to Sweden, he revelled in parties held in his honour.
Assange, variously described – including by his own former conquests – as a self-absorbed 'misogynist' and 'womaniser', had two separate sexual assignations with female WikiLeaks fans. What was to have been a triumphant, rock star-style blast of booze, adulation and sex turned sour.
Both women went to the police and accused Assange of rape. They claimed that, against their wishes, he had deliberately not used a condom during what had started as consensual sexual encounters. Assange denied the claims and left Sweden for the UK on September 27, 2010. He was not charged or cautioned in respect of these allegations.
Yesterday it was reported that the Biden administration had thrown in the towel because it didn't believe a Labour government would allow Assange to be extradited
Assange unveiled a list of high-profile backers at the High Court in London including heiress Jemima Goldsmith
Swedish authorities issued a European Arrest Warrant and Interpol put him on its 'red notice' list. Assange presented himself to Scotland Yard on December 7 and was remanded in custody at London's Wandsworth Prison.
By now, the conspiracy theory that it was all a CIA sting – the 'rape' allegations being a ruse to extradite him to Sweden then drag him in chains to the U.S. to face spying charges – had gone viral.
One of his alleged victims was having none of it, hitting back that Assange was 'a man with a twisted view of women, who has a problem accepting the word 'no' '.
At the High Court in London, Assange unveiled a parade of high-profile backers, including heiress Jemima Goldsmith who put up sureties to guarantee he would not abscond if granted bail. Given his freedom, Assange eventually went on the run anyway, losing his backers £93,000. In early 2011, before turning fugitive, he agreed to furnish a fascinated world with his autobiography, which he reportedly suggested should be titled From Swedish Whores To Pentagon Bores.
It would include a chapter on 'Women', until his then girlfriend told his ghost writer, in front of Assange: 'He's got such appalling, sleazy stories about women.' She added: 'He openly chats girls up and has his hand on their a**e. And goes nuts if I even talk to another guy.'
The draft of the book also reportedly contained a 'horribly sexist remark' about Ms Goldsmith.
In May 2012, the Supreme Court ruled he should be extradited to Sweden. That June, Assange fled into London's Ecuadorian embassy, where he was granted asylum by the country's Left-wing president of the day, Rafael Correa.
Assange lived in an office converted into a studio apartment. He made periodic balcony appearances to preach to his worshippers who gathered regularly on the Knightsbridge pavements – alongside Metropolitan Police officers on a costly round-the-clock vigil as they waited for a moment to nab him. That moment took seven years to arrive and cost taxpayers an estimated £13.2 million.
Amal Clooney, the human rights lawyer wife of Hollywood star George Clooney, joined his support group. In 2013, she advised he was 'uniquely qualified' to become technology minister of Ecuador and therefore potentially entitled to diplomatic immunity.
As the stand-off continued, the Swedes dropped two of the allegations, one of sexual molestation and another of unlawful coercion, on the grounds they had run out of time to question him. The investigation into allegations of sexual assault was dropped in 2019.
Nothing apparently deterred high-profile fans from being dazzled by Assange's idealism. He enjoyed visits from Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, singer Lady Gaga, designer Vivienne Westwood, American actors John Cusack and Maggie Gyllenhaal, Yoko Ono and her son Sean, and even former Manchester United star Eric Cantona.
But by far the most significant visitor was Stella Moris, a 37-year-old lawyer of Spanish-Swedish nationality who was helping his legal team.
It was in the embassy that both their children were conceived – she told the BBC both pregnancies were planned.
In October 2015, a weary Scotland Yard had quit the uniformed branch's round-the-clock farce, having racked up costs of £12.6 million, switching to 'overt and covert tactics to arrest him' – essentially meaning undercover officers waiting to pounce.
In 2017, Assange became engaged to Ms Moris. Their sons were born in 2017 and 2019. It is said Assange watched both children being born in London hospitals via live video link.
Eventually long-suffering Ecuador kicked him out of the embassy. In April 2019, Met officers were invited into the embassy. Assange was dragged out, looking wild-eyed and dishevelled.
Pictured: Assange greets supporters outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London in May 2017
The announcement that Assange had left the UK was not made until the Wikileaks chief was miles out of British airspace
He was arrested, charged with jumping bail and given a short prison term. Then he was rearrested on behalf of the U.S. The legal battle that ensued was gargantuan.
British lawyers and journalists lined up to oppose Assange's extradition on the grounds he was a whistleblower.
It was feared it could set a precedent resulting in investigative journalists being hounded in a similar manner.
In June 2022, Home Secretary Priti Patel ordered his extradition to face 18 charges for releasing classified information, which his lawyers claim could see him sentenced to 175 years in jail in a 'supermax' American jail.
Numerous appeals followed. His British lawyers demanded the U.S. should not impose the death penalty and stated Assange should be entitled to rely on the First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech.
Yesterday's news of Assange boarding a private jet out of the UK came as a surprise. The announcement was not even made until the WikiLeaks chief was miles out of British airspace.
What then followed, however, did not surprise dedicated Assange-watchers. 'Dear Supporter', read an email. 'The flight comes at enormous cost: Julian will owe $520,000 (£409,000). In addition, and after 14 years of detention, including five years in maximum security prison, Julian's health is in dire need of recovery.
'We are launching an emergency appeal to seek donations to help him… every contribution counts.'