Expat accused of murdering partner to be extradited
British man wanted for allegedly stabbing girlfriend to death in Italy to be sent back to face trial
A BRITISH man accused of murdering his partner at their home in Italy before driving to England is to be extradited, a court in London ruled yesterday.
Michael Whitbread, 74, is wanted by the Italian authorities for allegedly stabbing Michele Faiers, 66, to death last October at the home they shared near the town of Casoli, in the southern region of Abruzzo.
The couple had allegedly had a row because Faiers, who has three grown-up daughters, suspected he was having an affair with another British expat who lived in the area.
She had allegedly seen him playfully slap the woman’s bottom at a New Year’s Eve party in December 2022, according to Italian prosecutors.
Shortly after Faiers was found dead with seven knife wounds in her back at their house in the hamlet of Verratti, Mr Whitbread drove his Jeep Compass 1,300 miles via Switzerland and France back to the UK.
Security camera footage showed him leaving the house at 4.41am on October 29, hours after the alleged murder, to turn the vehicle around in the driveway. By 6.13am, the car was gone.
Once across the Channel, he headed for his daughter’s house in Shepshed, Leicestershire. Days later, he was arrested by police and has been in custody ever since.
Westminster magistrates’ court in London ordered that Mr Whitbread be extradited back to Italy, where he will face trial.
Mr Whitbread said nothing in court other than to confirm his name.
His lawyer said his client “didn’t consent to extradition but didn’t oppose it”.
Ruling that the defendant should be sent back to Italy, David Robinson, the judge, said: “Italian authorities have indicated an immediate trial. The offence is of a most serious and grave nature.”
Italian investigators have said that they are not looking for any other suspects in the case.
John Sheehan, the head of the extradition unit at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Our thoughts are primarily with the grieving family of Michele Faiers.
“We ask that there be no speculation about the facts of the case which may be subject to appeal, and so that Michael Whitbread can receive a fair trial in Italy.”
Mr Whitbread, who is originally from Torquay in Devon, was remanded in custody. He has seven days in which to lodge an application for permission to appeal the decision.
Mr Whitbread and Faiers had moved to Italy about three years before her death and together refurbished the house that they lived in.
Her body was found by a British friend and fellow expatriate, who had become concerned that Faiers had not responded to her phone calls for four days.
The body was lying in a bedroom, clad in underwear but covered by a sheet.
She and Mr Whitbread were part of a large British expat community that had settled amid the rolling hills and vineyards of the Abruzzo region, which extends from the Apennines to the Adriatic coast.