Murder charge chef unable to raise bail
A CHEF facing extradition to Italy on murder charges remains behind prison bars, even though he has been allowed bail.
Edmond Arapi was arrested in connection with a killing on October 2004, as he returned to Gatwick Airport following a family holiday.
A judge presiding at extradition proceedings yesterday allowed him conditional bail if family or friends could provide a £5,000 surety. But his wife Georgina is on income support and is unable to raise the bond, which leaves her husband languishing in Wandsworth Prison until the next hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court.
Mr Arapi, a 29-year-old Albanian, who has lived in Leek for nine years and works at the Travellers Rest pub in Leekbrook, says he was in the UK when the Italian authorities allege he committed the murder.
Mother-of-two Georgina said evidence was yesterday presented to the court proving he was living in Leek and working at the former Cafe Davide, in Getliffe's Yard, Leek, on the day of the killing.
She will now have to attend the next hearing on July 6, when she will give oral evidence confirming his alibi.
The 26-year-old former Westwood College student, of Langford Street, Leek, said: "I feel I am in the middle of a nightmare and cannot wake up.
"Evidence was given to the court proving his whereabouts, but it was still not enough to get the damn case dropped.
"They have agreed to bail if we can find £5,000, but I just have not got that sort of money. I have spoken to my dad and he cannot help me.
"I feel awful that I cannot get the money to get Edmond released. No-one has got that sort of money available in these credit crunch times.
"The court said it was being lenient by allowing him bail because it is not normally allowed on a murder charge.
"He has never been in prison before, and he will be absolutely devastated and terrified.
"If no-one can help me he will have to stay in prison until July 6. It seems like a lifetime away."
She added: "This is total, total madness. We have given them the proof that he was working and had even signed for deliveries on the date they are talking about.
"I cannot understand how they can still go ahead with the case when all they are going on is his name and his date of birth.
"We just want him released so he can go back to work, and so we can start living again as normal.
"Until now, all my focus has been on this hearing and I have now come to a dead end, with no end in sight
"The Italian authorities have so far presented no evidence to show that he committed this crime and they have not got any proof.
"Our solicitor will be writing to them to ask if they still want to go ahead given the evidence that we have produced."
Mrs Arapi, who met her husband while they were both studying at Stoke-on-Trent College in 2001, says he has never even visited Italy.
She has won the backing of Staffordshire Moorlands MP Charlotte Atkins, who has raised the case with Justice Minister Jack Straw.
Mr Arapi was arrested last Tuesday in front of his wife and two children, Maria, aged six, and two-year-old Sarinam, as they returned from a four-week holiday in Albania where they had been visiting family.
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