On-run Albanian held in double murder inquiry
A FUGITIVE migrant suspected of the double murder of married pensioners has been arrested in luxembourg.
Ali Qazimaj, 42, who is thought to be Albanian, had been on the run since Peter Stuart, 75, was found knifed to death close to his Suffolk home earlier this month.
Mr Stuart’s wife Sylvia, 69, is still missing but police fear she is also dead. In a dramatic breakthrough yesterday, police in luxembourg picked up the suspect at a hostel after a member of staff recognised him from photographs on the internet.
Suffolk Police said they are now working with the Crown Prosecution Service and authorities in luxembourg to seek his extradition to the UK.
Qazimaj was granted asylum in Britain using a stolen identity after the conflict in yugoslavia, where he is said to have lived previously. He lived in the UK under a false name for up to 17 years. Officers made the discov- ery following a raid at the home of the ‘real’ Qazimaj, a ‘gentle’ Kosovan carpenter and fatherof-three who has never been to the UK and speaks no English.
Detectives admitted they know ‘ precious little’ about the imposter Qazimaj and are ‘urgently’ seeking more information about him.
The suspect, who police said also used the name Marco Costa, fled across the Channel after the Stuarts were reported missing on June 3. His silver Citroen C3 was found near the ferry terminal in Dover.
Neighbours described him as a gun-obsessed loner who bragged he could kill someone and make them disappear in a barrel.
The Stuarts, who were keen line- dancers, were last seen on CCTV walking into a farm shop in Pulham Market, Norfolk, on May 29. Mr Stuart was found with multiple wounds in woodland 50ft away from the couple’s isolated home in Weybread, near Eye in Suffolk, five days later. He had been dead for several days.
The suspected killer, a fork lift truck driver and former council worker, lived in Thurrock, Essex. He arrived in Britain some time between 1999 and 2008, police said. His name appears on the electoral roll from 2005.
Another man, aged 61, from leicester, who was earlier arrested on suspicion of murder, has been released on bail until August.
Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Parkes said the search for Mrs Stuart has been widened to a 93-mile stretch, between the couple’s home and Tilbury in Essex.