Italian paedophile used Malta to renew visa for his Tunisian hideout

A paedophile who had been a fugitive from the law for nearly a decade, used Malta as a base to renew his visa for Tunisia, where he was evading capture by Italian police for child abuse.

The man, 38, from Florence, was arrested yesterday morning at Rome Fiumicino airport as he attempted to re-enter Italy, where he still has a 3 year and 10-month prison sentence to serve, for crimes of sexual violence committed in 1997.

The man was returning from Tunis where he was arrested on 18 June after an Interpol alert. He had been convicted of having abused of an 11-year-old child, by offering him cannabis joints and forcing him to carry out sexual acts.

The man evaded the prison authorities in May 2000, where he set up base in Tunisia. He would renew his three-month visa by taking regular trips to Morocca and Malta.

In 2005, with Interpol extending its search for the man, it managed to track him down by inserting his details in the Schengen Information System.