A MURDER suspect is to be extradited back to the North-East after failing in his last appeal to stay in Spain.

Detectives from Middlesbrough will fly to Madrid in the near future to escort Jonathan Crossling, 36, back to the region.

Mr Crossling is being held at the top security prison at Valdemoro, just south of Madrid, following his arrest at the Costa del Sol resort of Benalmadena last Christmas, on an extradition warrant alleging murder during a robbery in Middlesbrough five months earlier.

He is also accused of attacking and injuring two other men with a Samurai sword and faces a further charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

An appeal by Mr Crossling against a ruling by three judges at Spain's National Criminal Court, which handles all extradition cases, that he should be sent back to Britain to face trial was lost yesterday.

The appeal judges rejected a plea by his lawyer, Federico Andreu, that Mr Crossling should not be extradited because he faces a life sentence on conviction - a prison sentence which does not exist in Spain.

Under Spanish law, no prisoner can be held behind bars for more than 30 years.

The appeal judges heard that Mr Crossling is accused of murdering Kalvant Singh by pushing him from the window of a brothel in Errol Street, Middlesbrough, last August.

Later, they were told, Mr Crossling attacked and injured two other men with a Samurai sword at another premises and finally injured another man at a third address.

Yesterday, Mr Andreu said: "There is now nothing more that can be done to prevent Mr Crossling being escorted back to Britain."