A SCOT who says he is facing a potential death sentence in the USA for a 1999 murder he claims he didn't commit is battling his extradition at the High Court in London.

Phillip Harkins has been ordered to return to the US to face charges of murder and attempted robbery relating to the death of 22-year-old Joshua Hayes.

Mr Hayes was killed in Jackonsville, Florida, on August 10, 1999, and US authorities say Harkins - a British national is prime suspect.

He was living in Jacksonville at the time and was charged with the murder but, after being released from police custody, he went to Scotland and lived in Greenock.

Papers for his extradition were served after he was arrested for causing the death of pensioner, Jean O'Neill, in Greenock by his dangerous driving in 2003. He served five years for that offence before being extradited.

In March last year he was granted parole and, on June 1, the Home Office ordered he be taken into custody to await extradition.

Launching a judicial review challenge against the extradition at the High Court yesterday, Harkins told two senior judges the evidence was so weak it was "improbable" a prosecution would succeed.

The President of the Queen's Bench, Sir Igor Judge, sitting with Mr Justice Lloyd-Jones, heard that the passage of time since Mr Hayes' death meant extradition would be "unfair and oppressive" and a "breach of his human rights".

Representing himself from the dock, Harkins argued the bulk of evidence against him was from an unreliable witness who has since admitted accessory to murder. But any inconsistencies have been called "peripheral".

The case resume on Wednesday.