A SUSPECT in a murder probe - which saw a Radcliffe man jailed for life - has been extradited back to the UK.

Ex-market trader and former BBC undercover researcher James Raven was told in 2007 he must serve at least 24 years behind bars for his role in the brutal slaying of Brian Waters at a Cheshire farmhouse.

Raven was convicted of murder alongside John Wilson and Otis Matthews after their victim, a 44-year-old father-of-two, was tied up, beaten with a metal bar, attacked with an industrial staple gun, whipped and burned with acid during a three-hour ordeal the previous year.

But another man, Christopher Guest More Jr, from Lymm, fled the country shortly after the killing and has remained on Europe's most wanted list ever since.

More though, was detained on a European arrest warrant in Malta last June and has now been flown back to the UK, where he is being held at HMP Altcourse.

A Cheshire Police spokesman said: "Guest More Jr was arrested on June 6 2019 in Malta following an extensive international appeal to locate him.

"This involved close working between Cheshire Police and the National Crime Agency, along with law enforcement agencies abroad.

"He has since had several court appearances on the island as part of the extradition process, and Cheshire Police has liaised extensively with the Crown Prosecution Service, the attorney general’s office, the state advocate’s office in Malta, Malta Police Force and Malta’s Correctional Services Agency throughout the process."

Mr Waters was confronted by his killers at Burnt House Farm at Tabley, near Knutsford, a property where he was growing cannabis, over the repayment of a £20,000 'debt'.

His torture took place in front of his children, at one point, before his wife found his body later in a milking shed.

Raven, then of Parnham Close, Radcliffe, had worked on a number of BBC crime programmes, including MacIntyre Uncovered and Crooked Britain and Channel 4's Sleepers.

He was known to have previously served a 14-month jail term over a road rage attack.