A magistrate yesterday ordered the extradition of a German man wanted by the US authorities for the distribution of child pornography, a week after hearing him claim he would be a victim of discrimination if sent back to America.

Rueben Lee Rudtke, 41, was arrested in the US, where he worked as a restaurant manager, in October 2011. He was granted bail and ordered to wear a tagging device.

But he fled to Germany three days before he was due to stand trial by jury and then, with his wife, flew to Malta where his parents lived.

When he testified last week, Mr Rudtke said he left the US and removed the tagging device in an escape he had planned because of the discrimination he suffered there.

He felt he needed to be back in Europe where he belonged.

In submissions to the court, Deputy Attorney General Donatella Frendo Dimech said the FBI found hundreds of child pornography and bestiality images in the laptop of the accused. They seized a list of code names used to distribute the images and videos through legitimate websites.

There were also e-mails between men using child pornography and conversations of an explicit sexual nature between the men found on his laptop.

In one of the e-mails, bearing Mr Rudtke’s mobile number, he asked for the sexual preferences of another man and then sent the requested indecent images, Dr Frendo Dimech said.

In the judgment delivered yesterday Magistrate Neville Camilleri said that after analysing the evidence, the court was satisfied that there was a case against him.

Mr Rudtke did not provide evidence to substantiate his claims of discrimination and the court did not see any obstacle to extradition.