Legal procurator Mario Mifsud Bonnici, one of Butler’s legal advisers, told The Malta Independent on Sunday they did not how long the case was going to take to be decided by the UK courts.

Mr Mifsud Bonnici said Butler has been remanded in custody in the UK till the case, which he described as “delicate”, has been decided. However, Butler has been in touch with his family in Malta, the legal procurator said.

Legal sources said the UK courts have to decide whether there are sufficient elements to grant Butler’s extradition to Italy to face charges there. They will take this decision on the basis of the evidence that will be presented by the Italian authorities.

Butler, 45, of St Paul’s Bay, and his wife, Carmen, were stopped at Heathrow Airport on their arrival on an Air Malta flight.

He was arrested and taken to the Crawley police station in West Essex, while she was not allowed to enter the UK and was placed on the first return flight to Malta.

Italian sources said Butler is wanted by the Ragusa Courts in connection with the landing of 11 illegal immigrants on the coast of Ragusa on 4 July 2001.

A 48-year-old Tunisian man, Habib Tabbakh, was found dead on the shore the following morning. His mother-in-law was clutching the man’s body when the Ragusa police arrived on site.

And it was she who told the police what had happened during the night.

When the boat arrived a few hundred metres away from the shores of Caucana, the pilot of the boat, a man called “Charles”, told all the illegal immigrants on board to jump out and swim ashore.

The Tunisian man said he did not know how to swim, but “Charles” threw him overboard anyway. The man tried to grip to the boat, but “Charles” allegedly gave him a blow with an oar on his hands to let go.

According to the Ragusa police, “Charles” was later identified as being Charles Butler.

Butler is also wanted on a second landing of illegal immigrants on the same shores six days later, when another four Tunisians were found dead. The Italian authorities maintain that they died in the same manner, drowning in the sea after being thrown out of the boat a few hundred metres from the shore.

In both cases, the Ragusa Courts have charged Butler with wilful murder.

There are another 10 Maltese persons who are wanted by the Italian authorities in connection with these two landings, The Malta Independent on Sunday has learnt from these sources in Italy.

The extradition requests signed by the Procuratore of Ragusa Agostino Fera were sent to the Italian Home Affairs Ministry on 24 July 2003.

They were in turn passed to the Italian Foreign Affairs Ministry for transmission to Malta.