Convicted killer to stay in the North

Dec 20 2009 Sunday Sun

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.

Afrim was arrested, convicted and sentenced to 20 years in jail, and Sokol was convicted in his absence.

After serving just a year of his sentence Afrim escaped from prison and fled to the UK.

It is understood he was able to live freely in the UK for six years after changing his name and he was even given a UK passport.

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.

Meanwhile, Albanian leaders had called in Interpol in a bid to track down the fugitive. Intelligence suggested he could be in the UK– and in 2003 his photo and fingerprints were sent to London . . . but cops failed to find him because of his false name.

In 2005 the Home Office handed Afrim a British passport. It took another year before police finally found him and he was arrested by Scotland Yard’s Extradition Squad.

Last year a judge ruled he should be sent back to Albania.

But he launched an appeal - leaving him free to remain in Britain. Earlier this year, Afrim Sinani – who now calls himself Pulaj – was living in East London with wife and three children.

Residents living in Cypress Grove reacted with shock when told a convicted killer was living in their street. Some, however, said Sinani was a friendly, caring dad.