A MURDER suspect has launched an appeal against attempts to extradite him from Spain to the North-East.

Judges at Spain's National Criminal Court in Madrid have ordered that 36-year-old Jonathan Crossling be sent home to face trial for allegedly murdering Kalvant Singh, in Middlesbrough, last year.

Crossling was arrested in Banalmadena, near Torremolinos, on the Costa del Sol, just after Christmas, on an extradition warrant.

Mr Singh was hurled from a window and another man, Michael Moody, was badly beaten and received serious face injuries at an address in Errol Street, Middlesbrough. Later, in another robbery attempt, two other alleged victims of Crossling were injured with a samurai sword, the Spanish judges ware told.

Now Crossling's lawyer, Frederico Androu, has launched an appeal on the grounds that he should not he sent to Britain to face a life sentence which he could not receive under Spanish law.

He will repeat the argument he used at the original hearing that, technically, life imprisonment in Britain can mean exactly that, whereas in Spain there is no such sentence and no one can spend more than 30 years behind bars.

Previously, Spanish courts have accepted the prosecution argument that life sentences in Britain do not in practice mean those who receive such punishment will never leave prison again.

The appeal is expected to be heard within three months.