Double killer: Avni Metra, 53, was in a defiant mood as he appeared at an extradition hearing in London

An Albanian double murderer brought to justice by the Daily Mail invoked European human rights laws yesterday in a last-ditch bid to remain in Britain.

Avni Metra, 53, was in defiant mood as he appeared at an extradition hearing in London, where it emerged that he is currently on police bail facing an accusation of rape.

Slouched beside an interpreter, and wearing a black leather bomber-jacket with an upturned collar, the former Albanian gang henchman made it clear he was determined to fight deportation.

He listened as his lawyer, Helen Dawson, confirmed the findings of a Mail investigation into his background that resulted in his dramatic arrest after 18 years on the run on Wednesday.

She confirmed he had entered the UK in 1998 using a false identity and posing as a refugee from Kosovo.

When District Judge Sheila Bayane asked the man who calls himself Avdul Mekra his real name, he obligingly spelt it out. ‘A-V-N-I M-E-T-R-A’, he said gruffly, stumbling over the letters. He also gave his correct date of birth.

But when told by the court clerk that he had the choice to return voluntarily to Albania, he sneered and spat out a one-word answer: ‘Never!’

In his absence Metra has been sentenced to 25 years in prison by an Albanian court for murdering two brothers in 1997.

He is said to have gouged out the eyes and sliced off the ears of one of his victims. In other developments in the case yesterday:

÷It emerged that taxpayers now face a substantial bill to pay for Metra’s legal costs as he fights extradition;

÷The killer’s ex-wife told the Mail she was in fear of her life after deciding to tell the truth about his background;

÷Police came under fresh pressure to hunt down Metra’s murder accomplice, Kadri Hoxha, 56, who is also facing a 25-year prison sentence in Albania and is believed to be in hiding in the UK.