Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is set to be extradited to Sweden after his appeal to the UK Supreme Court was rejected. President of the Supreme Court Lord Phillips announced the verdict at around 9:15 BST.

The 40 year old Australian was initially arrested in December 2010 after accusations by two female former WikiLeaks volunteers of rape and sexual assault on 14th August that year.

Internet whistleblower Assange, whose WikiLeaks website unleashed thousands of secret diplomatic documents to the public, became a hero to anti-censorship campaigners.

Assange will not be extradited immediately, as he still has the chance to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

Defence lawyers hav. been given two weeks to make an application to reopen the case, and Assange, who was not present at the hearing, has been granted the same amount of time before being extradited

Written and presented by Alfred Joyner