Easey Street murder suspect Perry Kouroumblis has touched down in Melbourne after a marathon extradition from Rome.
The 65-year-old was approved for extradition from Italy in late October, almost 50 years after Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett were found dead in their Collingwood home.
The journey began at lunchtime on Monday (Monday night AEDT) as Kouroumblis was driven from Rome’s maximum security Regina Coeli prison in a blacked-out van.
He was processed at the city’s international airport by the man who arrested him in September on his arrival from Greece, where the statute of limitations had meant he couldn’t be arrested.
Kouroumblis was driven onto the tarmac without handcuffs and loaded into seat 35E of Qatar Airways flight 132 to Doha before the other passengers boarded.
Victoria Police detectives occupied the seats beside him and Dean Thomas, the head of the homicide squad, sat in the row in front.
At 11.32pm on Tuesday, 13 minutes ahead of schedule, he touched down in Melbourne.
He will eventually be taken to police headquarters and formally questioned over the deaths of Bartlett and Armstrong in their Easey Street home.
Kouroumblis left Melbourne in 2017, after previously consenting to provide a DNA sample during a re-investigation of the case.
He was considered a person of interest but never charged.
He gave his own consent to the extradition to Australia in September, and his lawyer at the time said he maintained his innocence of the murders.
Armstrong and Bartlett, 27 and 28, were found dead in their home on January 13, 1977.
They had both suffered stab wounds and Armstrong had been raped.
Her infant son was found unharmed in his cot.
