A MAN wanted for questioning over a bloody double murder in a York bedsit could be back in the city in less than two weeks, police revealed today.

Former council tenant John Paul Marshall, 42, is expected to be extradited from Holland within the next 14 days after a six-month legal battle to bring him back to this country.

Detective Superintendent Javad Ali told the Evening Press: "We have today confirmed that a man currently in custody in Amsterdam will be extradited to the UK to be interviewed in connection with the deaths within the next two weeks."

Officers want to speak to Mr Marshall about the deaths of Kevin Mulgrew, 38, and Daniel Wall, 27. Their bodies were discovered in his Gillygate flat on December 4 last year.

Last month a judge at the Dutch Supreme Court, at The Hague, ruled that he could be extradited. The decision upheld another made in the Amsterdam District Court.

Mr Marshall, who is unemployed, has been held in Dutch custody since he was arrested in Amsterdam on December 23. He was last seen in York on December 2 at the door of his city centre home by a council plumber.

Police later discovered the bludgeoned and badly decomposed bodies of Mr Mulgrew and Mr Wall on his floor. They had been alerted by neighbours who complained of a bad smell and fluids leaking through the ceiling.

Updated: 15:40 Tuesday, June 15, 2004