Murder suspect 'to be extradited'

Sid Ahmed Rezala after his arrest in Portugal

A Frenchman wanted for questioning in connection with the killing of three women - including UK student Isabel Peake - is to be extradited to France from Portugal, according to a report.

Sid Ahmed Rezala is suspected of murdering 20-year-old Ms Peake while she was in France last October.

The French news agency AFP says it has been told by Mr Rezala's lawyer that a court in Lisbon has authorised his extradition.

Ms Peake's body was found by a railway line

Algerian-born Mr Rezala, 20, was arrested in Portugal earlier this year after evading French police who wanted to talk to him about the deaths of Ms Peake and two other women in France, Corinne Caillaux, 36, and Emilie Bazin, 20.

Ms Peake, from Barlaston, Staffordshire, was a student at Birmingham University when she went to France last October.

Her body was found by the side of the main Paris to Limoges railway line in central France.

Ms Caillaux was knifed to death on the Calais-Ventimiglia night train on 14 December.

The body of Ms Bazin, a student, was found in a cellar in the northern city of Amiens on 17 December.

Even with the approval of the extradition request, it is likely to be many months before Mr Rezala can stand trial.