American TV producer charged with wife's murder

(AP)

the producer of two of America's top reality television programmes is facing extradition to Mexico after prosecutors filed charges accusing him of murdering his wife during a holiday in the Gulf Coast resort of Cancun.

Bruce Beresford-Redman, who was behind the hit shows Pimp My Ride and Survivor, was at home in Palos Verdes, California, with his two children yesterday, as news crews outside reported that a judge across the border had issued a warrant for his arrest.

In April, the body of his Brazilian-born wife, Monica, was found in a sewer near the Moon Palace resort where the couple were staying. She had been strangled and cuts indicated that she had suffered a blow to her temple.

Mr Beresford-Redman was questioned by police, who were told by witnesses that the couple had spent previous days arguing. They discovered that he had recently taken out two insurance policies covering his wife's life for $550,000.

After reports emerged suggesting that Mr Beresford-Redman had had an affair, and that he had taken his wife on holiday in an effort to repair their marriage, the authorities confiscated his passport and asked him to remain in Mexico while investigations continued.

Last week, however, it emerged that he had returned to the US with the two children.

Pictures emerged of him pushing his children on a swing at his home, in a prosperous seaside neighbourhood of southern Los Angeles.

Mexico and the US have an extradition treaty, so Mr Beresford-Redman is likely to eventually return to face trial, but requests can be notoriously slow to process.

The case is the subject of a growing PR skirmish. "It has been 56 days since Monica was brutally murdered," read a statement issued by the family of his wife, who was a well-known figure in LA's Brazilian community.

"At no point during that time did he reach out to [our] family to express sympathy. The only thing that Bruce Beresford-Redman has done since the day Monica went missing was to request and pay for her immediate cremation."

Mr Beresford-Redman has issued a statement protesting his innocence. "I am devastated at her loss and I am incensed at the suggestion that I could have had anything to do with her death," it read. "My children have had one parent taken from them by a senseless act of violence. I implore the Mexican authorities not to take their remaining parent by a miscarriage of justice."