A CONVICTED killer from Albania who was discovered leading a double life as a Glasgow chip shop worker has been allowed to stay in Britain.

The UK Supreme Court has overturned a decision by the Court of Appeal in Edinburgh to send Fatjon Kapri home.

He fled to Glasgow after allegedly stabbing a man to death in London in 2001 and worked in the Blue Lagoon chip shop on Gordon Street in the city centre.

During his time there he took a false Macedonian identity, Sadiku Saymire, and began a relationship with a co-worker.

However, he had been convicted in his absence in Elbasan, Albania, in 2002 for murdering the man, another Albanian national named Ylli Pepa, and given a 22-year jail term.

The Albanians asked the British authorities to send Kapri back but the 30-year-old fled from London.

In 2010, he was traced to Glasgow and arrested. After a lengthy appeal process, during which Kapri claimed the Albanian court system was corrupt, three judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh refused his request not to be extradited.

However, a five-judge panel at the Supreme Court in London, headed by Lord Hope, has ruled sending Kapri back to Albania would breach his right to a fair trial under Article Six of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Supreme Court ruling said: "The new argument (by Kapri's legal team) - was supported by averments - that the judicial system in Albania was systemically corrupt.

"They incorporated a number of reports by, among others, the European Commission, the Swedish International Cooperation Agency and the US Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour."

The judges, Lord Hope, deputy president of the Supreme Court, Lady Hale, Lord Kerr, Lord Sumption, and Lord Toulson concluded: "It is a sad fact that, despite all the many provisions in international human rights instruments which emphasise everyone has the right to a fair trial before an independent and impartial judge, there are still states where the judiciary as a whole is infected by corruption.

"It is hard to get at the true facts. But there is no smoke without fire, and where allegations of corruption are widespread they must be taken seriously. So too must an appreciation of what corruption may lead to when it affects the whole system.

"It may involve simple bribery of judges and court officials, or it may involve interference with the judicial system for political reasons of a much more insidious kind. Unjust convictions may result, just to keep the system going and keep prices up."

It stated that everyone whose case came before the courts of a country where practices like that were widespread was at risk of injustice.

They added: "The proper course, therefore, is for the case to be returned to the Appeal Court (in Edinburgh) so it can be provided with up-to-date information and reach a properly informed decision as to whether or not the threshold test (on corruption in the Albanian system) is satisfied.

The judgment added that there is new evidence about Albania available to the Court of Appeal which can be debated at a new hearing.

Kapri remains in custody.