Convicted killer to stay in Britain

LONDON, Dec. 21 – An Albanian father facing murder charges in his home country has won the right to stay in Britain, according to the British media.
An international manhunt was launched after Sokol Sinani fled his native Albania following a gun-slaying in a local graveyard, in 1996, for which he has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.
The 37-year-old, who had been on the run for 15-years, had been living freely with his family, in Gateshead, under an alias, for the last five years. During that time he was on Interpol’s most-wanted list and his photo circulated among European police. The authorities finally tracked him down in October and officers from the Metropolitan Police turned-up at Cypress Grove, in Ryton, and arrested the fugitive.
Sinani was taken to London and police in Albania tried to get him extradited to his home land. An extradition hearing was adjourned and Sinani was released on bail and returned to Ryton with his family.
But at a hearing in London this week magistrates discharged the case and told Sinani he was free.
The court would not comment further on the reason why his case was dismissed but the local media reported it was likely police have DNA evidence which no longer links him to the case.
Sokol and his half-brother, Afrim Sinani, were charged with the murder of a man on January 4, 1996, alleged to have taken place following an argument in an Albanian graveyard. After serving just a year of his sentence Afrim escaped from prison and fled to the UK.
Afrim was arrested, convicted and sentenced to 20 years in jail, and Sokol was convicted in absentia.
In 1997 he escaped from prison – and after three years in hiding he and his wife managed to slip into the UK on the back of a lorry.
He was granted asylum after claiming to be a refugee from civil war-ravaged Kosovo.