THE Home Office last night insisted that a Bradford man's extradition from Pakistan to face double murder charges was fully legal.

Mohammed Zubair had appealed against being sent back to the UK and was still waiting for a decision before he was put on a plane and returned, his solicitor Shahzad Ali told magistrates yesterday.

Zubair, 36, appeared before Bradford and Keighley Magistrates' Court charged with the joint murders of Imran Khan 27, and Ahmedin Sayed Khyel, 35, whose badly beaten bodies were found at the side of a country lane in New Lane, Tong, in May 2011.

Zubiar has been in custody in Pakistan since November 2013 and his extradition is the first in more than a decade from that country to the UK.

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But Mr Ali told magistrates: "There was an appeal pending in Pakistan before the crown court. The decision had not been announced by that court as to his return so I'm not prepared to concede his return to this country was legal.

"I want it noted on the record."

After the hearing a West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "Any matter regarding the legality of the process is a matter for the courts to decide."

And a Home Office spokesman insisted: "The request for Mr Zubair was subject to full judicial process before the Pakistan courts."

Zubair, who is bald with a black closely-trimmed beard, appeared in the dock dressed in a grey crew-necked sweatshirt with faded blue jeans and was brought into court in handcuffs.

When the handcuffs were removed he waved at a group of acquaintances in the public gallery and smiled at them before holding both hands tightly clenched in front of him as he confirmed his name, age and address to magistrates who committed him in custody to appear at Bradford Crown Court today.

Ahead of Zubair's court appearance, Detective Superintendent Simon Atkinson, who has led the West Yorkshire Police inquiry, had praised the Pakistani authorities for their assistance and endeavours in not only securing his arrest, but also ensuring his extradition back to the UK.

"This has been a process that has taken a long time to come to fruition, and is the first instance in more than ten years that anyone has been extradited from Pakistan to the UK," he said.

One man has already been jailed over the killings of Mr Khan and Khyel.

In 2012 a Bradford Crown Court jury convicted minicab driver Sabir Hussain, of manslaughter and he was jailed for ten years. Hussain then aged 40, and of Wensleydale Road, Thornbury, Bradford, was cleared of murdering the pair.