Edward Johnston had previous standoffs with police in UK

Edward William Johnston is the prime suspect behind the murder of Nicolette Ghirxi.

Johnston died following a three-hour standoff with the police in St Julian’s. However, this was not the first standoff with authorities.

In 2012, Johnston made a bomb threat in a restaurant in Glasgow. At the time, he had entered the restaurant, ordered two glasses of wine, and told the waiter that he had a bomb under his jacket.

According to news reports at the time, Johnston repeatedly said that he wanted the police to kill him, as he threw items on the pavement outside the restaurant. He was subsequently shot with a stun gun before he was arrested. A British court was told that he had been struggling with the termination of his unborn child. He was given a 28-month jail sentence.

One week before his Glasgow incident, Johnston had waved a fake gun in Liverpool city centre. He was believed to have told witnesses at the time, "I'm either going to kill someone or get killed tonight."

Johnston is understood to have boasted about having a military background, however, sources who spoke to MaltaToday stated that the Irish Defence Forces have no record of him.

But online, Johnston went by the name of Edwardo Sambora. Johnston had a Youtube channel where he preaches financial independence.

Johnston is a self-proclaimed trader with a number of videos claiming to show followers how to make large sums of money from home by trading. In some videos, he is seen recording from a residence in Portomaso with the site of his final standoff in the background.

Edward Johnston

On top of that, he is the director of Sambora Trading Ltd registered in the UK, although it is not clear what the company does. The only description of its roles is, “Activities auxiliary to financial intermediation not elsewhere classified.”